


not a broken dream

by bmcb



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: AU, F/F, Shooting Stars, Slow Burn, Wishes, i think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-09-18 01:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9360368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bmcb/pseuds/bmcb
Summary: Laura Hollis finds a shooting star in the sky and makes a wish.Carmilla Karnstein works for the secret undercover agency that helps to fulfill said wishes.





	1. Chapter 1

Laura sat down on the edge.

She remembered this place very clearly, with all its dry, dusty rock and stale breezes, a thousand-foot drop looming below her.

How could she forget?

Not when…not when –

It had been sunset then, orange and deep red streaking across the sky and eerily illuminating the blank landscape around the cliff in a fiery light.

Now, it was night. Now it was silent and dark and almost peaceful.

She swung her legs back and forth a little nervously. The sky above her was illuminated with a brilliant array of stars. Her chest ached.

She couldn’t stay here. Not in the place where she’d had to say good-bye to someone she cared for dearly.

A tiny flash in the sky caught her eye. She gazed upward and – there it was.

A shooting star.

“Make a wish,” she’d been told when she was little.

She pulled back from the cliff drop and stood up, tracking the path of the shooting star as it cut its way through the sky.

What should she wish for? In the past she’d always asked for the same thing, for the same thing that would never, ever come true. It was impossible.

Even if she wanted it to be true so badly her heart felt weighed down, filled with pain.

The shooting star dissipated above her.

She just wished she could love someone who stayed. She hated having to say good-bye, over and over and over again.

 

…

 

Carmilla was making her way down the street towards the coffee shop when her phone rang.

“What do you want?” she asked blearily.

“Hi to you too, kitty,” Will chirped back at her.

Carmilla rubbed her eyes tiredly as she continued walking. “What time is it?”

“Twelve minutes after seven.”

“It should be illegal for you to be so upbeat this early in the morning,” Carmilla grumbled.

“That’s what you get for being nocturnal,” Will told her. “Speaking of which, why are you out and about? I have a new assignment to pass onto you.”

“I’m busy. I’m completing an assignment right now.”

“Well hurry up and get back here as soon as you can. Which one is this?”

“Some guy named Kirsch, I think.”

“The dude who wished to pass his finals?”

“That’s the one.”

Will whistled into the phone. “How are you planning on helping him do that?”

She’d reached the coffee store by then, and pulled the door open to enter. She spotted the wisher immediately, hunched over a stack of open textbooks in the corner by himself. The boy, Kirsch, looked completely exhausted.

Carmilla lowered her voice below the dull early morning chatter to avoid being overheard. “As far as I’ve figured out, he’s got his last two, which are his hardest, today. It seems like he knows the material just fine. The problem here is that he looks like he’s going to pass out in five seconds.”

“I see,” said Will. There was a pause. Then he continued. “Man, this job would be so much easier if we had magical powers.”

“Mattie’s recent inventions are basically magic,” responded Carmilla. “Like, have you gotten the chance to fly using a pair of those wings yet?”

“I have. I was allowed to use it one time. Almost got shot down by a duck hunter.”

Carmilla laughed. “You’re an idiot.”

“Shut up, kitty,” said Will, pretending to sound wounded. “Anyway, back to your assignment. What are you going to do?”

“I got permission to use the thought implanter earlier.”

“Oh yeah, that thing. You gonna jump start his brain and keep him wide-eyed awake or something?”

“No. That’s way too risky to try and you should know that,” said Carmilla. “He’s not doing anything except studying. I’m just giving him the desire to go out, take a break, and buy a Red Bull and some food or something. He needs to rest; he’s been pulling too many all-nighters recently.”

“Oh, that’s clever,” said Will appreciatively. “So am I royally screwing up the rest of your mission by talking to you or is it okay if I don’t hang up?”

“I’m nearly done anyway,” said Carmilla. “Just give me like…half an hour to get back to the office.”

“Okay,” said Will.

The barista asked Carmilla if she wanted to order anything.

“Do you like hash browns?” she asked Will.

“I love hash browns!”

“Okay. Expect some when I return. Now piss off.”

Carmilla heard Will call out “Bye kitty!” into the phone before she hit the red end button. She bought Will a package of hash browns and then took her order with her to the table behind Kirsch’s. He hadn’t moved since Carmilla entered the coffee shop. His eyes looked unfocused.

She set the food off to the side of the table and brought out a rectangular device. It was tiny, about the size of a credit card, and had only two blinking lights and a square button on its front face.

The agency had five of these thought implanters, painfully researched and crafted courtesy of Mattie and her team. Because it was such a powerful device, agents who wanted to use it on an assignment had to put in a request and get it cleared by Mattie. If approved, the specific thought was implanted into the device, programmed to respond to only the wisher, and given to the agent to use.

All Carmilla had to do was get close enough to Kirsch and hit the button, then wait for the blinking red light to turn green.

So she did.

Then she watched as he shifted suddenly, shaking his head slightly like he was confused. He shut his textbook and got up, trudging towards the door of the coffee shop.

Carmilla watched him go.

Over three centuries of working at this job, and the most exciting thing she got to do on a regular basis was press a goddamn button.

She spent fifteen minutes pretending to be engrossed in something on her phone. Finally, Kirsch returned to his table and books, sporting a can of Red Bull and a breakfast sandwich. Instead of going back to studying, he shut his textbooks and began to eat his food peacefully.

Carmilla smiled to herself. Now the guy wouldn’t be able to fall asleep mid-final even if he wanted to.

Another assignment completed, another wish fulfilled. Another eighty bucks added to her paycheck.

She sent Will a text reading “I’m heading back now,” and then picked up her hash browns and left the coffee shop.

 

…

 

It wasn’t till early afternoon back at the office before Carmilla decided to let her little brother annoy her again.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Will’s number.

“There is a kitty calling me,” he answered after the third ring.

Carmilla rolled her eyes. “Can you come to my room for a sec?”

“Sure. One moment.”

A minute later, the door to her office opened, and Will poked his head in, grinning. “What’s up?”

“Do you think you can find out what Kirsch’s test scores are? It’s afternoon, he should be finished by now.”

Will raised his eyebrows. “I mean, sure. But why do you want his test results?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Carmilla sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “Maybe because I just finished attempting to fulfill his wish of passing his finals and I want to see how well he ended up doing.”

“Wow, what is this?” Will gasped dramatically. He had the cockiest grin on his face and Carmilla was tempted to punch him. “Carmilla Karnstein is actually _caring_ about someone other than herself?”

“Grow up, you loser.”

“You know, kitty, I don’t even know why you still pretend to be all apathetic and detached. Everyone knows you’re really the biggest, cheesiest softie in the whole wide world.”

“Shut up. I am _not_.”

“Yes you are. Remember that time you gave away your precious little black cat keychain to cheer some random kid up?”

“That was like, over a decade ago,” Carmilla said defensively. “And she was just a little girl and she looked so upset. It really wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“Like I said, big fat softie.”

“Just be quiet and give me my damn intel, Willy boy.”

Will threw his hands up in surrender, but the cheeky smile never left his face. “Okay. Give me twenty minutes, tops. After that I have to give you your new assignment I told you about earlier.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

After Will left, Carmilla pulled up the wish database on her laptop. One branch of the agency was dedicated to finding wishes all around the world and recording all of its relevant information into a file. These files were then uploaded onto the database, sorted by day and tagged with its difficulty level and a salary. Agents like Carmilla could then pick and choose which assignment they wanted to take on.

She scrolled through the list of newest wishes for today, bored. Normally she’d have just clicked on the oldest one at the top and left for the field to fulfill it by now, but Will had seemed intent on personally giving her an assignment, for some weird reason.

He popped in unannounced a little bit under twenty minutes later, as promised, startling Carmilla out of drifting off into a daydream.

“Got you his scores,” he said, plopping onto Carmilla’s couch and flipping open his laptop. “You got lucky. Professors entered it in just three minutes ago.”

“What do they look like?”

“Let’s see…Wilson Kirsch…One A and a B. Not bad, I think. Seems like he managed to stay awake after all.”

“That’s nice to hear. Good for him,” said Carmilla.

“You’re not busy anymore, right?” asked Will.

“Not for the rest of the day, no.”

“Okay. I have to tell you what your new assignment is, then.” He pulled up another window on his laptop, scanning the screen intently. Carmilla watched him with one eyebrow raised.

“Why do you have to give me this one yourself?” she asked.

“Dunno,” said Will, shrugging. “The higher-ups wanted me to. Okay, here it is. We picked this up two nights ago. A nineteen-year-old girl asked for…someone she could care about without having to worry about them leaving.”

Carmilla stared at him. Then she said, “That sounds like the sort of angsty, cheesy thing a teenager would come up with.”

“It’s serious,” said Will. “They want you to fulfill her wish.”

“Are you kidding me? You want me to find this girl a _lover_? Why do I have to do it, anyway?”

“Because she made the wish on the brink of a thousand-foot vertical cliff. Mother thought you would be able to relate to her, better than most of the other veterans at least.”

Now Carmilla was intrigued. “Wonder what caused her to ask for something so ridiculous. I bet she’s sad because her oh-so-precious ex-lover cut ties with her or something.”

Will shrugged again. “Maybe. Maybe not. It’s your job to find out. Mother offered six hundred if you help her see her wish come true.”

“I don’t really get to turn this down, do I?” Carmilla asked.

“Nope,” said Will cheerfully.

Carmilla sighed. “…Can I at least use the wings?”

Will laughed. “I’ll see what I can do about that. I’m gonna leave now, though. Mattie’s testing out the newest prototype of her time warper. Don’t want to miss it.”

“Come back never,” Carmilla said with mock-seriousness. “Also, send me the girl’s file.”

“Done.” Will shut his laptop and got up. “See you around, kitty.”

Will left and Carmilla’s own laptop dinged with a notification. She found a new labeled file in the corner.

 

Date received: May 20, 2014  
Wisher: Hollis, Laura  
Value: 600

Subject: I wish I could love someone who didn’t have to leave in the end

 

Great. It was just as corny and excessively hopeful as she’d thought.

The wisher’s name was Laura Hollis, a nineteen-year-old girl who lived alone in Styria. That wasn’t too far away from the office. If Will got her one of those cool mechanical wings she could be down there in twenty minutes. Those things were  _fast_.

She sighed. The sooner she fulfilled this silly, naive wish, the sooner she could distance herself from the ridiculousness of it all.

 

…

 

Will called Carmilla an hour before sunset to tell her that he’d finally gotten clearance for her to use the wings, and then accompanied her down to the armory five minutes later.

“Here,” said Will once they’d reached the far wall. He picked up a blue drawstring bag and threw it at Carmilla.

“No. I want the black one.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Of course you do.”

Carmilla pulled the drawstring bag over her shoulders while Will looked on jealously. Carmilla saw his expression and smirked, which only made Will’s expression sour even more.

“You do realize that the wings are going to be white no matter what color the bag is, right?” he said in an attempt to deflect Carmilla from his envy.

“I know.” Carmilla reached up the right strap and found the button, located near her shoulder. She pressed it and the inconspicuous drawstring bag suddenly morphed and extended into a pair of shiny white wings. Will had to jump out of the way to avoid the eight-foot wingspan as it formed.

“Hey! Watch where you stick that,” he protested. “Man, Mattie’s work just gets better and better. I wish I could take another run with this.”

“You’re still young,” Carmilla told him, jumping up a few feet and hovering in the air experimentally before dropping back down. “I was a hundred and five when I got to take on my first assignment by myself. You’re ninety-eight and have already completed at least ten. Give it some time.”

“But paperwork is so _boring_ ,” Will whined.

“I know,” said Carmilla gleefully. “I’m so glad I don’t have to do that shit anymore.”

Will sighed, but patted her on the back – well, wings. “Good luck out there, kitty.”

They went up to the roof of the office, where Will unnecessarily reminded Carmilla not to fly around to weird places like a fucking idiot and to try to avoid being seen by the public. Then with a final wave, he left.

Honestly, it probably would have been less of a hassle to just take a bus or taxi to Styria, but flying was so much more fun. It made her feel a lot less tied down.

So she walked to the edge of the building, took a deep breath, and then jumped, taking off up into the sky.

She followed the path Will had mapped out for her to the cliff that Laura had been standing on when she made her wish. The wind felt great against her face as she soared towards her destination, flying high enough so that it was easy for her to get mistaken for a bird in populated areas.

Laura’s file read that she had a habit of going to that mountain cliff every few days, so the odds were fairly high that she’d be there when Carmilla arrived.

And she was.

Carmilla slowed down as she approached the cliff, landing nimbly on her feet about a hundred feet away from the silhouette sitting on the edge.

The sound of the wings folding in and disappearing back into its drawstring bag disguise were enough to alert the girl, who turned around and instantly locked eyes with Carmilla, surprised.

Laura kept staring at her, a little bit in shock, but mostly in awe. Carmilla took a step forward and then stopped, shifting her weight from one foot to the other awkwardly.

She knew she was probably going to be in big trouble because agents weren’t usually supposed to explicitly reveal themselves to wishers, but she felt frozen in place by Laura’s gaze.

“Hello,” said Laura, breaking the silence between them. “Are you an angel?”

“Am I a – what?” Carmilla should have thought this through before coming here.

“An angel,” repeated Laura uncertainly. “You have pretty wings.”

“I – uh, thanks,” Carmilla managed to say.

Laura was still looking at her.

Great. Now what was she supposed to do?

Carmilla took a few more steps forward and considered it a victory when Laura didn’t balk and run. Then again, they were on the edge of a cliff face, so there weren’t exactly many places she could flee to.

Laura’s eyes followed Carmilla’s steps towards her. She was sitting with her legs dangling over the side, into open air. Carmilla briefly admired Laura’s courage before remembering that she was only here to finish her job. Nothing more, nothing less.

The entire time, Laura had stayed fairly calm, but when Carmilla moved to sit down next to her, she flinched.

“What are you doing?” she asked uneasily. “Why are you here?”

“I – I thought you looked lonely by yourself,” said Carmilla, who was now frozen in an awkward half-squatting position. “I wanted to keep you company.”

“Oh,” said Laura.

“Is that okay?”

“Yeah, I mean…sure.” She looked like she couldn’t understand why Carmilla would want to sit with her.

Carmilla got down next to Laura, copying her position and letting her legs hang over the edge of the cliff. Laura was looking up at the sky again.

“The sun is going to set soon,” she said.

“Yeah,” said Carmilla.

As they sat together in a companionable silence, waiting and watching as the sun inched its way closer and closer to the horizon, Carmilla’s mind was racing. How was she going to fulfill this girl’s wish? Did she just get her a lover?

Carmilla figured she could _probably_ find some random person off the streets and shoot a desire to be with Laura into their heads using the thought implanter. She briefly considered doing just that, but it would feel fake. The whole thing would be fake and Carmilla liked to fulfill wishes with as little artificial help as possible.

Besides, she was getting paid six hundred bucks to complete the assignment, so she might as well do a good job to avoid pissing off her Mother.

This was going to be harder than she thought.

Maybe if she figured out a little bit about Laura’s past, it would help.

“So, what brings you here?” Carmilla asked.

“I – uh.” She could almost hear Laura fumbling to come up with an answer. She was hiding something. “It’s – it’s a nice view here. I like watching the sun set from high up.”

“Oh,” said Carmilla, and didn’t press her further.

They watched as the sun finally began to slip under the horizon, turning the sky orange, then dark red, then black.

“What’s your name?” Carmilla asked, even though she already knew what it was.

“Laura Hollis.”

“I’m Carmilla. Carmilla Karnstein.”

Laura nodded in acknowledgement. After a few minutes, she said, “Hey, I should probably go. It’s getting late.”

“Oh, okay,” said Carmilla, inwardly cursing herself. This trip had turned out to be completely useless. What a waste of time. “Well, goodbye, then.”

“Bye.” Laura got up, dusting her pants off. She turned and began walking back away from the cliff.

Carmilla watched her go.

But after Laura had taken ten steps, she turned back around to address Carmilla. “Are you going to be here again tomorrow?”

Carmilla blinked in surprise. “Uh, yeah, sure. Will you?”

Laura nodded. “Same time, same place.”

“Got it,” said Carmilla. “Take care, cupcake.”

Laura blinked at the nickname, and then turned and left. Carmilla waited until she was completely out of sight before taking off into the night herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello

Carmilla went straight to Will’s office when she headed into work the next day.

“How far back do we keep a history on someone?” she said as soon as she had pushed the door open, without so much as a greeting or preamble.

“Er,” said Will, who had been taken by surprise. “Just a week now, there’s seven billion people in the world. Why?”

“So how much could you tell me about Laura Hollis?”

Will raised his eyebrows at Carmilla. “Somebody has done a full one-eighty since last night.”

“Because she’s a lot more hurt than I initially thought she’d be and I need to find out who broke her heart so I can kick their ass,” said Carmilla.

“You’ve exchanged three and a half sentences with this girl and already feel the need to protect her?” asked Will. “That’s fast, even for you, kitty.”

“Shut up, you fetus,” Carmilla retorted. “That’s not even why I – I just want to do a good job with this assignment, alright? It’s never fun to be on Mother’s bad side.”

Will grimaced in understanding. “Okay. One stalker report on Miss Hollis, coming right up.”

Carmilla groaned. “I can’t believe I come to you for most of my information. You are about as mature and easy to deal with as a five-year-old.”

“But you love me.”

“Ew. No way.” Carmilla pretended to gag. “You’re gross.”

Will grinned and turned his attention to his laptop.

“Should I stay here and wait for you to finish or are you gonna take a million years?” asked Carmilla.

“I’ll call you when I’m done,” said Will, not taking his eyes off the screen. “This might be a while. Especially because we don’t have a working _search function_ …seriously.”

So Carmilla spent her morning taking on the assignment of a young girl who had simply wished for a pet dog. It was easy enough for her to find a stray roaming the countryside and then relocate it to the family’s backyard. She’d heard the girl’s little squeal of delight before she’d even left the premises.

At noon Carmilla decided to barge into Will’s office again, having grown tired of waiting for his phone call.

“I bring coffee,” she announced in his doorway. “No sugar or milk, because I know you’ll go batshit crazy if you have too much caffeine and sugar combined.”

“Aw, you know me so well,” said Will in the sappiest voice as he took the cup from Carmilla’s outstretched hand.

“How’s the search going?”

“You mean the stalking?”

Carmilla glared at him. “I will drink your coffee right here and now.”

“No! Please I love coffee! It’s…Okay, so all that’s on her seven-day personal records is that she lives alone in her own apartment. Has been for a few months, by the looks of it. I’m trying to run a search on her background, which I thought might help, but as of now, it’s all turning up blank.”

 “Huh,” said Carmilla, frowning. “That’s odd. You’d think she’d at least have _some_ online presence or something. Teenagers these days.”

“It’s definitely fishy,” agreed Will. “Yeah, nope. I’m getting nothing.”

“Well, since you’re proving to be fairly useless right now, it looks like I’m going to have to find out myself,” said Carmilla.

“That is incredibly offensive,” said Will without sounding offended. “What are you gonna do, kitty? Fly out to meet her again?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. We’re meeting up tonight at the same place on the cliff.”

Will raised his eyebrows. “Wow. How legit. Have fun with that.”

Carmilla turned around and got ready to leave.

There was a pause.

Then she turned back around. “Is it possible to find out what her favorite snack is?” she asked slowly. “Hypothetically, if I were to…bring some tonight to share?”

“Now you’re _really_ heading into stalker territory.”

“I am leaving now.”

“Hooray. Finally.”

Carmilla went back to her own office and plopped herself onto the couch, sighing. She still had several hours to kill before she could go to the cliff and talk to Laura again.

She was genuinely curious as to what had happened to the girl and why she’d made such a cheesy wish. But Carmilla knew that if she wanted Laura to open up to her, she’d have to hang out around Laura for a long while.

Oh boy.

This was not going to be fun.

She sighed and flopped onto her stomach, face buried into the couch cushion, wondering what Laura was currently up to.

Her phone rang.

“Quit moping around. You have plenty enough time right now to finish an easier-level assignment,” said Will.

Carmilla grunted and hung up on him.

That little shit.

Carmilla ended up finding a young lady’s wish to busy herself with for the rest of the afternoon. The woman had been worrying that her husband was cheating on her, and wished to find out once and for all if her suspicions were true or not.

So Carmilla went to their house, and watched as the husband told his wife he was going out to a doctor’s appointment. He wound up in a coffee shop, chatting animatedly with another woman online. When the guy left to go to the bathroom, Carmilla sidled into his seat, squinting at the screen. He was clearly a dense person and surely wouldn’t notice if Carmilla surreptitiously swapped out the mystery woman’s chat window with his own wife’s.

As predicted, he did not. He returned from the restroom wiping his hands on his jeans and immediately began typing as soon as he’d sat down again. Carmilla _watched_ him send the message, “Sorry, I’m back. So, what do you say? My wife won’t be home this weekend so it’s unlikely that we’ll get caught,” to his wife. She almost burst out laughing at his horrified expression when his wife sent back a scathing “Excuse me?”

If only the stupid assignment her Mother was making her do right now was as easy as this.

 

…

 

By the time five o’clock rolled around, Carmilla couldn’t stay still in her office anymore, feeling like her brain cells were oozing out of her as she sat there doing absolutely nothing. So she went down to the armory to grab the wings again, this time shoving a pack of cookies into the drawstring bag, and took off into the air, heading for the cliff again.

When she arrived, the cliff was deserted. Carmilla retracted the wings and sighed, sitting down cross-legged a few feet from the end of the cliff.

Time to brainstorm ways to get Laura Hollis someone to love while she waited, then.

Nothing came to mind. From what Will had discovered about her, Laura was mostly a loner. She didn’t seem to have any friends, at least not visibly.

So if nobody was close to her, and getting a stranger to fall in love with her was out of the question, how the hell was Carmilla going to fulfill this girl’s wish?

Why did Mother have to stick her to this annoyingly complicated assignment? Will was always desperate for a chance to go out and fulfill wishes. Mother should’ve given it to him.

“Hey. You’re here early.”

Carmilla spun around and saw Laura standing behind her. She was rubbing her arms a little nervously, like she was scared Carmilla was going to jump her or something, and made no move to come closer.

“I don’t bite, you know,” said Carmilla.

Laura half-smiled a little at that. “I know. I just wasn’t…I was surprised you came at all. We don’t exactly know each other, really.”

“Yeah, well.” Carmilla shifted, slightly embarrassed. She patted the space next to her. “C’mon, cutie. I brought cookies.”

“Really?” Laura walked tentatively towards Carmilla and sat down a few feet away from her.

“Yes really,” said Carmilla, reaching into her bag and pulling out the pack of cookies she’d bought earlier. “Hungry?”

“A bit,” Laura admitted. “Although I doubt cookies are going to fill our stomachs very well.”

“We can try, though.” Carmilla ripped open the package and held it out towards Laura, smiling. Laura blushed and took one.

“Thanks,” she said.

“No problem, cupcake.”

They munched on their cookies, their attention now turned towards the horizon. There was still at least half an hour before the sun was going to set.

“You come here often?” Carmilla asked.

“I guess,” said Laura, looking down at her lap. She was fiddling with a cookie piece in her hands. “Every two or three days I come here to watch the sunset. Whenever I get too stressed out, I think it helps to just stay up here by myself and clear my head.”

“Every few days huh? So you came up two days in a row just to see me again?” Carmilla said, eyebrows raised.

Laura’s cheeks turned pink. “You’re so full of yourself.”

Carmilla smirked and took another bite out of her cookie.

After a beat of silence, Laura spoke again.

“I mean…I kind of _did_ want to see you again…. You’re the first person in a while who’s actually wanted to stay around me.”

“Oh. That – that’s…oh.” Carmilla couldn’t take her eyes off Laura, a mixture of surprise and sorrow stirring inside her. “That’s…sad.”

Laura looked sheepish, her downcast eyes fixed on the rocky ground beneath them. “Sad is one way to put it.”

Carmilla didn’t know what to say. It had been three hundred years and she no longer remembered how to do feelings.

“Sorry,” said Laura quickly. “I just killed the mood.”

“No, you didn’t,” Carmilla reassured her. “It’s okay. Really. Here.”

Laura gratefully accepted the cookie from Carmilla. “Thanks.”

They sat in silence for a little while longer.

“Let’s bet on how much time is left till the sun sets,” said Carmilla in an effort to distract Laura.

“Hm…twelve minutes.”

Carmilla pulled out her phone and found the stopwatch app. “I say fifteen.”

“What does the winner get?” Laura asked.

“The rest of the cookies.”

“You’re on.”

Carmilla hit the start button and the clock began ticking upwards. She looked back up from her phone screen, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw Laura smiling back at her.

“You _do_ know how to smile,” said Carmilla.

Laura instantly wiped the smile off her face. “No I don’t.”

“Noo…make it come back. It was really pretty.”

That just made Laura blush.

“I can see you trying to hide it,” said Carmilla, leaning in close and making Laura even more flustered.

“No I’m not.”

“Your face is starting to resemble a tomato.”

“You suck,” said Laura, but the smile had returned in full force, and Carmilla couldn’t help but match it.

“C’mon. Have another cookie. There’s only seven minutes left till you lose.”

“You mean until I win.”

“Dream on, cupcake.”

The sun began to set when Carmilla's phone ticked twelve minutes and thirteen seconds. Laura threw her hands up in victory, grabbing the half-empty package of cookies and hugging it close to her chest. “Ha!” she said to Carmilla. “I won. I was closer.”

“I can’t believe it,” said Carmilla, shaking her head. “You’re pretty good at this.”

“Yeah. Well, I guess that’s what happens when you watch the sun set several times a week,” said Laura, shrugging. She took out another cookie and bit off the corner. Carmilla watched her, amused.

When the sky finally darkened completely, Laura stood up, the rest of the cookies cradled in one arm. “Thanks for staying with me tonight,” she told Carmilla earnestly. “...Again tomorrow?”

“Of course,” said Carmilla.

Laura shuffled her feet a little, evidently pleased. “Then I guess it’s goodbye for now.”

“See you around,” said Carmilla.

Laura turned and headed down the hill. Carmilla activated her wings and jumped into the air.

 

…

 

“How was it?” asked Will the next day.

“None of your business,” said Carmilla.

“Kitty,” Will whined, sprawled out on Carmilla’s couch. “Why are you withholding information from me? Did you guys make out or something?”

“What the hell? I’ve seen her exactly _twice_ , you psycho.”

“You’re no fun.”

“That’s what you get for loitering around in _my_ office.”

“I wasn’t loitering,” said Will defensively. “I was going to tell you the stuff I found out about your wisher, but if you’re going to be so antagonizing, I think I’ll just leave now.”

“Wait,” said Carmilla. “You have more information?”

Will sat up and rubbed his eyes, reaching blindly for his laptop that he’d thrown haphazardly onto Carmilla’s couch. “Well… It’s not really useful. But it’s all I could find with our resources. She moved into her current apartment exactly five months and eleven days ago. The rent is actually a lot more expensive than what she pays, but apparently the complex owner is giving her a pass because of her personal reasons.”

“Huh,” said Carmilla. “Is that it?”

“Blank on the rest,” Will confirmed.

“The rent part is interesting.”

“A little. But it doesn’t tell us much.”

Carmilla sighed. “Well, I don’t have anything important to do, then, until evening.”

“Me neither,” said Will. “Wanna go through the wish database and try to find the stupidest wishes ever made?”

“If you get me lunch.”

“The things I do for you,” Will said dramatically, rising to his feet. “Don’t start without me.”

“The cafeteria is literally two hallways down,” said Carmilla, rolling her eyes.

Will stuck out his tongue as he shut the door.

Carmilla twiddled her thumbs and thought about Laura Hollis only twice before Will returned with two plates full of food. He set one down onto Carmilla’s desk and then crashed back onto her couch. “Not fair. You have so much random shit in your room. A couch and a _rolling chair_ , what the hell.”

“I got it when I turned two hundred. So suck it.”

Will laughed and opened up his laptop. “Yeah, yeah. I’m still young or whatever. Now, what section are we searching through first?”

“Let’s do ‘Too Extravagant,’” said Carmilla, scrolling through her own laptop with one hand while reaching for food with the other.

“Oh my god,” said Will. “Second one from the top. ‘I wish all the elephants in the world were purple.’  You have one shot at a shooting star, and _this_ is what you wish for?”

“Check this one out. ‘I wish the Earth was smaller.’ Yeah, just wait right here, let me just fire up my trusty shrink ray and minimize the entire world just for you, super important human.”

Will laughed. “Some people are so ridiculous. Hey, are you gonna eat your potstickers?”

“What? Oh, you can have them,” said Carmilla, only sparing her plate a single glance before turning back to her laptop.

“Sweet.” Will dragged Carmilla’s plate over to where he could reach it from the couch and transferred the potstickers to his own plate.

“I know you only got those for me so you could ask for them later and get extra food,” said Carmilla.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You really need to work on your innocent expression.”

Carmilla would never admit it to anyone, but she honestly enjoyed some of the alone time she got to spend with her brother.

“Want to look through ‘Negative Actions – Do Not Fulfill’ next? I hear there’s some seriously dark stuff people wish for,” Will offered after a while.

“Sure. Bet I can find a nastier one than you.”

Will cringed. “I’m halfway down this week’s list. ‘I wish Timmy could go die in a hole.’ Poor Timmy. What’d he do now?”

“Ooh,” said Carmilla. “This is from just three days ago. ‘I hope the Ravens’ striker breaks a leg and can’t compete in next week’s game.’ That’s just downright cruel.”

“Some guy living alone in the States wants everyone in his city to mysteriously pass away,” said Will, making a face. “Seriously, some of these people are – whoa! Kitty, what are you…”

Will trailed off.

“…uh, Carmilla?”

He’d been startled out of his concentration when Carmilla had suddenly slammed her fist onto her desk. She hadn’t even been aware that she’d done it. All she could feel was both rage and horror coursing through her, staring at the meek little file on her computer screen.

“Kitty…what’s up?”

Will’s voice sounded distant in her ears.

What the hell.

What the hell.

What the hell?

The wish had been made six days ago.

 

Date received: May 18, 2014  
Wisher: Straka, Theo  
Value: **Classified Under // Negative Actions – Do Not Fulfill**

Subject: Gonna try robbing Laura Hollis’ house in nine days. That little runt needs to learn her place. I wish for luck and success.


	3. Chapter 3

“Are you okay?” asked Laura.

Carmilla had seen Theo Straka’s wish on Saturday. Now it was Monday evening, and she couldn’t seem to unclench her jaw or relax her shoulders as she sat across from Laura Hollis, watching the sun set on the cliff together for the fifth day in a row.

“Your home has good security, right?” Carmilla asked.

Laura seemed thrown by the question. “…Yes? Maybe? I don’t know, I live in an apartment. I’m sure it has a decent security system. Why do you ask?”

“Nothing,” Carmilla answered absently.

Laura didn’t buy it.

“Carmilla, you have been acting a little odd recently. Is anything wrong?”

Some shithead named Theo was going to rob Laura Hollis’ house tomorrow. Said shithead was doing it out of vengeance.

“No, really, nothing is wrong,” Carmilla said hastily.

Laura eyed her suspiciously, holding her gaze for a few seconds before dropping it with a shrug. “I don’t think you want to talk about it, so I won’t ask you.”

“Thanks,” said Carmilla. She felt guilty for having to keep this from Laura. She deserved to know that she was going to be robbed.

What was Carmilla going to do?

For some reason she felt uneasy about warning Laura. If she had pissed off this Theo guy enough to send him into such a rage, Carmilla figured Laura wouldn’t be too thrilled to find out he was going to break into her apartment.

When Laura stood up to say good-bye to Carmilla at the end of their little meeting, Carmilla blurted something out before she could regret it.

“Hey. Cupcake. I’m…I’m going to be really busy tomorrow. With stuff. Watch the sun set for me, will you?”

“Oh.” Laura looked crestfallen. “Yeah. Sure. Of course. You’ll…be back on Wednesday, right?”

“I will,” Carmilla promised. “It’s just a tomorrow thing. I won’t be able to make it here.”

“That’s okay,” said Laura. “…Thanks for telling me.”

Carmilla stood up, packing up the candy bars Laura had brought and handing them back to her. “Take care,” she said, and meant it.

“I will.” Laura waved good-bye and turned to head back down the cliff. When Laura had disappeared down the back path, Carmilla extended her wings, like usual.

Instead of jumping off the cliff and heading back towards the office, though, she followed Laura.

Carmilla kept to higher ground, hiding herself in the shadows that the mountain cast and perching atop trees to watch Laura from afar as she headed home.

This wasn’t stalking.

No.

She just needed to find out where Laura lived so that she could kick Theo’s ass tomorrow if he tried anything.

That’s all.

It took about twenty minutes and two near-misses, but Laura finally reached her apartment. Carmilla made a note of its location and then watched as Laura unlocked the front door and headed in.

She cursed under her breath and headed back to the office.

 

…

 

“Look, I know you’re concerned for your wisher, but I’m ninety-nine percent sure you aren’t going to need a rocket launcher.”

“I’m gonna blow that asshole into pieces,” said Carmilla.

“Kitty,” said Will, putting out a hand to stop Carmilla from tearing down the entire weapons wall in the armory.

“Who even categorizes these stupid wishes? Were they not concerned that one of them  _explicitly_ revealed that someone was going to cause harm to another person? God, this place is run by idiots.”

“Don’t let Mother hear you say that.”

“Mother is the biggest idiot,” said Carmilla, seething. “Giving me this stupid-ass wish to fulfill. This is all her fault.”

“Angry kitty,” Will commented.

“Stop blocking me, Willy boy. I need to find something that can dice Mr. Douchebag before he can pull off his stupid stunt.”

“Dude,” said Will, moving in front of Carmilla and resisting her attempts to shove him aside. Damn Will and his strong arms. “If you show up to Laura’s apartment with guns blazing, the police are gonna go after you, especially if this Straka guy has nothing. All you need to bring are your fists. You’re a sick fighter. Just keep him at bay long enough to get him into cuffs, alright? That’s the most you can do to help out Laura Hollis.”

Carmilla glared at her brother.

Then she sighed and stepped back. “Fine. But if she gets hurt tonight, you’ll be following shortly after.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Will said, raising his hands in surrender.

“You’d better.” Carmilla turned around and headed out of the agency empty-handed.

Fifteen minutes of flying later, she was back at Laura’s apartment.

She set up shop a block down, hiding between two bushes planted against the side of a beat-down building. The noon sun shone high in the sky. No sign of Laura, but Carmilla stayed in her spot just in case. She wouldn’t know how to react if Laura were to find her snooping on her apartment.

Nothing happened for an hour.

Then two.

Then the entire afternoon.

Night fell, and Carmilla could feel her muscles cramping.

Maybe Theo had been bluffing. Or maybe he’d just given an arbitrary date and was actually planning on invading tomorrow.

Carmilla cursed herself for not thinking of these other possible options before, in her haste.

People came and went from the apartment complex.

Carmilla was almost dozing off when she noticed the guy who was currently trying to unlock the door was holding his left hand in a weird position.

Then she realized.

The dude was concealing a knife.

And that was most definitely not a key he was attempting to stick in the lock.

Instantly, Carmilla shot up out of her hiding spot, wide-eyed and alert and pissed off. She charged the guy and punched him in the side of the face, taking him completely by surprise. He yelled and Carmilla tackled him, slamming him down to the ground. The knife clattered out of his hand.

“What the hell, lady!” the guy yelled, trying to land a punch on her, but Carmilla pressed her arm to his throat and his own hands immediately moved to scrabble at it.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Carmilla snarled.

“I’m – I’m just – I – here - let me go!”

“What’s your name?”

“Why should I – fucking – tell you?” the guy choked out.

“I  _said_ ,” said Carmilla, pressing harder against the guy’s throat, “What. Is. Your. Name?”

The guy swallowed nervously, or at least he tried to. “Theo.”

“ _Fucker_.”

Carmilla punched him.

A couple walking by jumped back at the commotion. While Carmilla looked up at the bystanders, Theo tried to go for his knife. He grasped it and swung his arm up, only for Carmilla to catch his wrist in her hand.

“Can you two do me a favor and call the cops for me?” Carmilla asked, jerking Theo’s wrist backwards in an uncomfortable angle. He screamed in pain and dropped the knife again. “Thanks.”

The girl spluttered and fumbled to get her phone out of her pocket, while her boyfriend ushered her to a safer spot along the street. Carmilla finally turned her attention back to Theo.

“Why the hell are you trying to break into Laura Hollis’ apartment?” Carmilla said, her voice low.

Theo coughed angrily a few times before gasping out, “At least – let me – let me up, let me up!”

Carmilla glared at him. The guy had some muscle, but she could probably easily outrun him if he tried to flee. So she got up, jerking him into a standing position by the front of his shirt and throwing him against the wall.

He hit it hard, and Carmilla watched as the wind was knocked out of him. She stepped back and waited for him to get his breath back, but he chose that moment to try and get a swing in at her.

She dodged it easily, and then Theo tried to tackle her, lunging forwards with his arms outstretched. Carmilla ducked under his arms and spun around nimbly. Theo turned when he realized that he had missed, but before he could regain his balance, Carmilla had slammed both her hands on his shoulders.

She saw the fear in his eyes for a split second, right before she pulled him down and connected his face with her knee, hard and solid.

He cried out and Carmilla let him go, allowing him to shoot up and cradle his face in his hands. In one swift movement, she elbowed him in the stomach and then threw him back against the brick apartment wall, one hand pressed against his chest to keep him from running.

“Now talk,” she said.

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” said Theo. His breathing came rough and heavy, but he still valiantly tried to put on a brave face.

Carmilla was not amused. “You’re right. You don’t have to tell me anything. But I don’t _have_  to let you walk away alive, either.”

Theo paled.

“So what’s it going to be?”

“She destroyed my home, alright?!” Theo shouted suddenly. “She ruined my life!  _She’s_ the reason why Corvae turned into a shitfest, and then she had the nerve to  _run_ when we tried to get her back, it took me months to track her down and now I have! Corvae was the only place that took me in, they accepted me and gave me a place worth staying and she took all of that away from me! What’s wrong with wanting to take her down with me?!”

Carmilla just stared at him.

“I don’t even know where to begin with that,” she said in a low voice, “so I’m just going to give you my advice. When the police get here, you’re going to go with them without a fight. You’re going to confess that you just tried to break into someone’s apartment with the intent of hurting them, and you’re going to take whatever sentence they give you without complaint. And if I see you trying to get near Laura Hollis again, at any point in your pathetic lifetime, I will make sure to cut it short. Do you understand?”

 Theo nodded nervously, his chest still heaving. Carmilla gave him one last look, then released him. Sirens were sounding in the distance.

“Don’t try to pull any shit,” she said, taking a couple steps backwards as she spoke. Theo just curled up on himself angrily and averted her gaze. “I’m watching you.”

Then Carmilla turned and raced down the street. When she had gotten far away enough from Laura’s apartment, she went to the rooftop of some building and took off into the air.

 

…

 

Surprisingly, Will was still back at the agency office.

It was way past work hours, yet there he was, perched on Carmilla’s couch like it was his. Sometimes Carmilla wondered if he spent more time in her office than his own.

He brightened considerably when Carmilla entered. “Hey!” he said, standing up to face her. “You’re back! You were gone all day, kitty. What happened out there?”

“I bumped into the Straka guy. Turned him over to the police,” Carmilla said, dropping heavily into her rolling chair and pulling herself towards her desk.

“Good job,” said Will. “Um…what are you doing?”

“Looking something up,” grunted Carmilla.

“It’s late. Almost everyone else has already left.”

“I need to find out something important.”

“You can do that later,” said Will, dragging Carmilla’s chair back and ignoring her groans of protest. “C’mon. You look exhausted. Knowing you, you probably got into a fight with Straka. Let’s go home and rest, you can research to your heart’s content all day tomorrow.”

“I hate you,” said Carmilla.

“I know,” said Will pleasantly. “Now pack up, kitty. I haven’t had dinner yet and I’m starving.”

 

…

 

The next morning found the two of them together in Will’s office.

“Corvae,” Carmilla muttered, pacing back and forth along the length of the room. “What the fuck is a Corvae?”

Will watched Carmilla with raised eyebrows. “You’re not helping.”

“Then hurry up.”

“I’m not getting anything useful,” said Will, glancing back down at his computer. “A simple search tells me that Corvae is the name of a receptive heart monitoring company, which is still in business, so what you said Straka said makes absolutely no sense. It’s probably also the name of something more obscure, and I’m going to need time to figure out what it is.”

“Ugh!” said Carmilla, frustrated. “What the hell is going on with Laura Hollis? Why do I have to be the one to put up with this ridiculous assignment?”

“Kitty,” said Will, rubbing his face with his hands. “I’m trying to help you as much as I can. But if you’re just going to run around my office complaining, we’re going to have some problems.”

“Fine. Fine.” Carmilla stopped in her tracks. “I’m going to go out and beat someone up, then.”

“That’s against the rules.”

“I  _know_ , goddammit.”

She went back to her office and pulled up the list of today’s newest wishes. Her work was starting to slip. She found it harder and harder to focus on the small task at hand during the day when all her mind could do was think about what would happen at her evening meetings with Laura Hollis.

Carmilla still knew next to nothing about the girl and had no idea how to fulfill her wish, even though it had been a full week by now.

She sighed and picked a wish at random, a guy wishing to know why his girlfriend was avoiding him.

Hopefully Will would find something out about what Corvae was and maybe it’d give them more information about Laura.

The wish Carmilla had picked out was only worth twenty bucks, and she was distracted, so all she did was sneak into the guy’s computer and pull up six different websites on the importance of communicating with a partner. It was a sloppy job, she knew, but her heart wasn’t into it anymore.

Even though she still found Laura Hollis’ wish to be naive and more than a little inconvenient, she couldn’t deny that she was stupidly invested in it now.

Why, though?

Why Laura?

Carmilla had been working at the agency for over three hundred years. She’d picked tough assignments before. She’d met assholes before. None of them had gotten on Carmilla’s nerves as much as Theo Straka had.

Mother had said that Carmilla had been chosen because she might be able to relate to Laura.

Carmilla had yet to discover in what way. And why she was supposed to somehow connect with this cheesy little nineteen-year-old girl.

By the time she returned from her second assignment of the day, it was nearing evening. Will was waiting in her office.

“What’s up, loser?” she asked, plopping onto the couch and resting her head back because Will was spinning around in her rolling chair.

“I found out what Corvae is,” he announced.

“Great. What is it?”

Will stopped spinning in the chair and leaned forwards conspiratorially. “An apartment complex.”

Carmilla stared at him, trying to determine if he was joking or not. “A what?”

“It was. It  _was_ an apartment complex, actually somewhat near where Laura Hollis lives right now. Maybe twenty something miles away? The place was torn down roughly six months ago. Something about its inhabitants starting a giant fight between each other and ending up burning half the place down anyway.”

“Okay,” said Carmilla, sitting up and thinking intently. “So Straka used to live in Corvae, then. And Laura has something to do with its downfall? I don’t see how or why Laura would have caused the people living in an entire apartment complex to blow each other up, though.”

“That’s the fishy part,” Will agreed. “I don’t see how your wisher factors into this. Unless she had some gossip on one of the inhabitants, and then ratted them out? But then why would anyone else care? They live in the same building, not the same rooms.”

“Straka said that Corvae took him in,” said Carmilla. “That definitely means the people living there were more closely connected than just apartment mates.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain how Laura Hollis made them tear each other apart,” said Will. He glanced at the clock on Carmilla’s office wall and nodded back at her. “It’s almost six. You’re going to the cliff again, right? Don’t want to leave your wisher hanging two days in a row.”

“Shit, you’re right.” Carmilla stood up immediately and headed for the door. “Catch you tomorrow. We are  _not_ done talking about this.”

 

…

 

“Apparently someone tried to rob my house yesterday,” Laura told Carmilla, worry creasing her brows a little bit.

She looked so sad and Carmilla felt sorry for her.

“What happened?” Carmilla asked.

“I’m not really sure,” said Laura. She scooted a little bit closer to Carmilla, who moved the box of cookies aside to make room for her. “I stayed out late all day and came directly here to watch the sun set without going back home. By the time I got back, there was a police car in the apartment parking lot and they told me someone tried to break in.”

“Did they catch him?” Carmilla asked.

“Yes,” Laura answered, looking forlornly down at the ground. “They said not to worry because he turned himself in.”

“Oh. Well, that’s good, then.” But Carmilla still needed to know if Laura knew the identity of the thief. “Did they tell you who the thief was?”

“No…I don’t know…I think I went home way after the whole thing happened, so almost everyone had already left. When I asked the only policeman left if she knew who tried to break in was, she said she didn’t know, and that I might find out later if he got put on trial.”

“Oh, that sucks,” Carmilla said while internally sighing in relief. She might not know yet how Theo Straka and Laura were connected, but if the guy had pursued Laura for six whole months after his apartment complex had gotten torn down, he must have seriously hated her.

“It does,” said Laura in a small voice.

“I’m glad you’re okay, though, cutie.” Carmilla nudged Laura with her shoulder, getting a tiny smile as a result. “Wouldn’t want to watch the sun set all by myself every day.”

“Speaking of which,” said Laura, “where did you have to go yesterday?”

“I – uh.”

“Sorry, I overstepped,” Laura said immediately, her eyes widening as Carmilla fumbled to come up with an explanation.

“No, no, you’re fine,” Carmilla got out. “I just…had a busy day at work. That’s all.”

“Oh,” said Laura.

Carmilla felt bad that she had to lie to Laura. But it wasn’t like she could just tell her who she was. A centuries-old person who looked eighteen and fulfilled wishes for a living?

As if she’d even believe that.

They watched the sun set together, like usual. It had sort of become routine for them at this point.

Then, when the sky had darkened, Laura sighed and lay back onto the ground.

“I feel like we don’t know very much about each other,” she said, looking up at the stars.

Carmilla gazed at her for a few moments before copying her position, lying down next to her. “Well, we did just meet only a week ago.”

“Eight days,” Laura corrected. Carmilla raised her eyebrows.

“Wow, who’s keeping such an accurate check on our meetings?” she said.

Laura blushed. “Stop it. I haven’t made a new friend in a long time.”

“Wait, really?” Carmilla asked, kind of regretting what she’d said now. “Why not? You seem likable enough.”

“I don’t know.” Laura’s voice had gone all insecure and quiet. “…There’s a lot of reasons, probably.”

“Hey,” said Carmilla. “I’m…sorry I said that. I wasn’t trying to be mean or anything.”

“It’s okay,” said Laura quietly.

Carmilla shifted on the ground so that their shoulders were touching. Laura seemed to relax a little.

She was most likely going to regret what she said next.

“I’m willing to be your friend,” said Carmilla, fixing her gaze on the stars shining in the sky above them.

“You are?”

“Yeah.”

But maybe the way Laura seemed to brighten at that, the way she turned her head to look at Carmilla with shining eyes, maybe that would make it worth it.

“Just don’t get all sappy on me and we’re good,” Carmilla said hastily.

Laura smiled.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, looking back up at the sky. “So, why don’t you tell me something about yourself? What do you do for a living?”

It wasn’t that Carmilla didn’t want to answer Laura’s questions. But agents weren’t even supposed to show their faces to their wishers, let alone tell them who they really were. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the sort of trouble she’d get into if she told Laura what her job was. It was a secret agency for a reason.

“You go first,” Carmilla said instead.

“Fine,” said Laura, and Carmilla could hear the pout in her voice. “Well, I work at a retail store which is maybe a twenty minute walk from my apartment.”

“Hm. So I could just pop in any day and visit you?”

“Well, no.” Laura sounded surprised and Carmilla looked over to see her staring fixedly up at the sky, her cheeks a little pink. “I work in the back. Usually just organizing things and keeping stock of the inventory. Stuff like that.”

“That’s cool too,” commented Carmilla.

“Now you have to tell me something,” said Laura.

“Um…” Carmilla wracked her brain for something to tell Laura that wasn’t a blatant lie. “I have an annoying little brother named Will.”

“Oh, cool,” said Laura. “How old is he?”

Carmilla’s brain momentarily froze. “He…uh – twenty-one.”

Laura frowned. “I thought you said he was your little brother?”

“Um…yeah. Sorry,” said Carmilla. “He’s so annoying, sometimes I forget that he’s actually not an immature twelve-year-old.”

Laura smiled again. Carmilla found that she couldn’t tear her eyes away when she did.

“What about you?” she asked. “Any annoying siblings I should know about?”

“No,” said Laura. For a second, she looked slightly confused. “I think it must be nice sometimes to not be an only child.”

“Yeah, sometimes,” Carmilla admitted.

She sneaked a glance over at Laura when things had gone silent and saw her staring peacefully at the stars.

“As much as I enjoy watching the sun set with you,” said Laura after a while, sitting up slowly while rubbing her back, “I should start heading back. I really do have to work in the morning.”

“Okay,” said Carmilla. Laura stood up and over her, stretching out a hand. Carmilla took it and let Laura pull her to her feet.

“See you tomorrow night?” asked Laura.

“Duh.”

Laura blushed. “I’m just checking.”

“If I was planning on ditching, I’d tell you,” Carmilla assured her. “Now go on and take care, cupcake.”

“You too,” Laura said, looking relieved. “Bye, Carmilla.”

Carmilla watched her turn and go, a little spring in her step. She smiled to herself and left the cliff.

 


	4. Chapter 4

“The only logical thing I can think of is that Laura Hollis was some sort of a rival to Corvae,” said Will.

Carmilla made a face. “Why, though?”

“What else could it be, though?” Will asked. “I think it’s safe to say, based on what a jerk Straka was, that maybe the guys who lived at Corvae weren’t exactly the best people around. If they were heavily divided to begin with, and Laura somehow got her hands on some game-changing information, it would have been easy for her to let it slip and start a civil war.”

“So you think Laura was out to hurt Corvae,” said Carmilla.

“I guess?”

“Great.” Carmilla sighed. “Now what?”

“Now, we research the big giant web for people nearby who also had beef with Corvae. Maybe they would know Laura and be able to tell us something about her. At the very least, they can tell us why they disliked Corvae and give us more insight into what exactly it is.”

“How long is this going to take you?”

Will shrugged. “Probably more than an hour? Enough time for you to go do your regular job, at least.”

Carmilla groaned. ‘I don’t wanna.”

“What?”

“I don’t wanna,” she whined. “Let me help.”

“Wow, is Carmilla Karnstein actually trying to downgrade from super cool, super fun outside-world recon missions to _paperwork_?”

“Why do you always do this to me?” Carmilla grumbled. “I can’t concentrate on my regular job anymore, not when I know next to nothing about Laura Hollis.”

“Ooh, she got you whipped,” said Will matter-of-factly.

“You dumbass, I only found out she even existed a week ago. Just let me help. Two heads are better than one and all.”

“Whatever you say,” said Will in a singsong voice. “Grab your laptop then. It’s time for an epic research adventure!”

So the two settled down in Carmilla’s office because she had a couch and conducted hours of research that was neither epic nor adventurous.

Will set his computer to search through all the websites they could that mentioned a word somewhat resembling “Corvae,” and anything that came up as a match got sent to Carmilla’s laptop for her to meticulously click open and check.

By late afternoon, she was so bored she could barely keep her eyes open. Her hand was moving on autopilot, directing the cursor to the link that popped up on her screen and then closing it almost immediately after.

“I hate the internet,” she said.

“Are you regretting your decision to stay here and do desk work now?” said Will.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Okay, kitty.”

Suddenly she shot awake. “Wait. Shit. Willy-boy. Willy – Will – stop sending me links, idiot! Come look at this.”

Will got up from his spot on the couch, curious, and moved over to stand behind Carmilla. “What’s up?”

“It’s a blog,” said Carmilla. “Run by…some girl named Mel Callis.”

“Okay…?”

“Some of its posts are trash-talking the Corvae guys. The most recent one is six months old. Let’s see… ‘Thank god those Corvae goons finally ended themselves once and for all. Maybe now I can finally have some peace and quiet.’ It’s definitely the same Corvae we’re dealing with.”

“Wait, keep searching.” Will reached over Carmilla’s shoulders and stole her keyboard. “Ho hum. Oh, look at this. Posted a year and a half ago. ‘I think the complex across the road is trying to pull some suspicious shit. The people who live in there are definitely a lot closer than what is normal. It seems like they’re all trying to work together to carry out their evil deeds.’”

“So this Callis person lives around where Corvae was,” noted Carmilla. “At least she did up to six months ago. You think she’s still there?”

“Only one way to find out,” replied Will, not taking his eyes off the screen. “We gotta find out where the hell these people are located.”

 

…

 

A full week passed since Carmilla had shut down Theo Straka’s pathetic attempt at villainy.

Carmilla busied herself by taking on whatever easy assignments she could during the day. Will had been called in with a bunch of other people to start clearing out everything useless in the wish database from at least five decades ago and archiving everything else up till the turn of the century.

He complained about how much work it was to Carmilla every night and was so busy during the day, he couldn’t help her with anything to do with Laura Hollis. So Carmilla was at a standstill about Straka and Corvae and Mel Callis until Will and the team finally finished the damn cleansing.

In the meantime, though, at least she had the evenings to look forward to.

Carmilla hadn’t noticed that she’d been subconsciously arriving at the cliff earlier and earlier each day, and therefore also hadn’t noticed that Laura was starting to catch on and join her, spending more and more time together just talking and teasing each other.

It wasn’t until Laura met up with her the next evening that she realized.

“I brought a picnic blanket,” Laura said, holding the cloth wide open in front of her so that only her hopeful expression peeked out the top.

Carmilla just blinked. “Wait, what?”

“Well, I usually eat dinner around this time and then head to the cliff when I’m done,” explained Laura, fluffing the blanket out and laying it onto the rocky ground, “except now I have to rush to stuff something in my mouth so I’m not keeping you waiting here. So I figured that we could just eat dinner together while watching the sun set. I mean, only if you wanted.”

“Oh,” said Carmilla. “Yeah, sure, that sounds great. I didn’t bring any food today, though.”

“Don’t worry, I have takeout, if you’re okay with that.”

“Sure, why not. Although now I kind of feel bad.”

“That’s okay,” said Laura. “You can bring dinner tomorrow. We’ll alternate every day.”

“Okay, cutie.” Carmilla watched Laura with a mixture of amusement and affection as she placed the boxes matter-of-factly atop the blanket and then sat down cross-legged on it herself, looking up at Carmilla with a shy grin.

It was a pretty smile. Carmilla was glad Laura was starting to show it more often.

They chatted while eating the food Laura had brought along with the picnic.

“Nice pattern,” commented Carmilla, looking down at the design printed onto the blanket. It was light yellow with baby cartoon ducks running across and all over it.

Laura’s face turned pink. “I thought it looked cute, and it was on sale, so.”

“I never said it was bad,” said Carmilla. “I think it’s cute too. Like you.”

Laura blushed harder, which made Carmilla smile.

“You’re mean,” said Laura, pouting upon seeing Carmilla smirk at her.

“I called you cute, cupcake. How is that mean?”

“Because – because I said so!”

Carmilla raised her eyebrows, amused. “Okay. Well then. Whatever you say.”

When she sneaked a glance over at Laura, she caught the girl smiling to herself.

Just then Carmilla’s phone buzzed. She pulled it out to reveal a text from Will flashing on the screen. It read, “HELL YEAH! Just got done with the cleansing. I’m all free tomorrow to help if you want.”

“What are you looking at?” Laura asked.

“Just a text from my brother,” Carmilla answered. “He’s excited that he finally finished a really cumbersome task at his job.”

“Oh, that’s nice for him,” said Laura.

Carmilla got an idea. If Will was going to be able to finally help her in her Corvae investigation tomorrow, maybe Laura knew…

“Hey, cupcake?”

“Yes?”

“Do you happen to know anyone named Mel Callis?”

“Mel…Callis…?” Laura said uncertainly. “Mel…No, sorry, I don’t think so.”

“That’s okay,” said Carmilla, shutting off her phone and pocketing it.

“Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering,” said Carmilla. “I…uh, I thought you might know her.”

“Oh,” said Laura.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Carmilla, bumping Laura’s shoulder playfully. “Look, the sun’s going to set soon.”

Laura sighed and leaned her head on Carmilla’s shoulder.

It felt nice.

She stayed that way the entire time as they watched the sun set.

“That was fun,” said Laura with a genuinely happy smile on her face when it was time to leave. “We should do this more often. The dinner thing, I mean.”

Carmilla watched Laura as she folded up the picnic blanket and couldn’t help but agree.

“I think I’d like that very much.”

 

…

 

“Hey, kitty!” Will said excitedly when he swung open the door to Carmilla’s office.

“Willy-boy,” Carmilla shot back. “I haven’t seen you in a while. Welcome back.”

“Thanks,” said Will brightly. “As an apology for me being missing in action for all this time, I went home and did a bit of research on both Corvae and this blogger Mel Callis. I bring new information.”

“Oh yeah? What information?”

“Mostly just their location. Mel Callis actually lives in the apartment right across the street from where Corvae stood. I’ve also compiled a page of her blog posts relating to Corvae. They don’t really reveal much. Just that one of them tried to start a fight with her, and she thinks they acted suspicious when leaving and entering their complex.”

 “Okay,” said Carmilla. “Does she still live there?”

“Yes,” said Will. “So…we could totally pay her a visit sometime and ask some questions.”

Carmilla thought for a few seconds. “When would this ‘sometime’ take place?”

“Right after lunch, if you wanted.”

“…Let’s do it, then.”

Will mock-saluted her and left.

Carmilla settled back onto her rolling chair.

So if Laura didn’t know who Mel Callis was, it was likely that Mel didn’t know who Laura was, either. But maybe a trip would let Carmilla learn more about Corvae and why Mel hated them so much.

Maybe Laura hated them just as much as Mel did.

After half-heartedly eating a flimsy lunch, Carmilla met Will at the entrance to the office, too jittery to wait any longer. She really wanted to figure out the mystery that was Laura Hollis.

Why did she care so much?

So she could help Laura fulfill her wish, obviously. And Carmilla figured it would help if she knew a little bit about the girl’s past.

Maybe Laura felt bad about causing Corvae to disintegrate and that was why she had isolated herself.

But then why was Theo Straka so pissed off at her?

“Hey. Snap out of it.”

“Sorry,” said Carmilla, blinking. “I’m ready to go. Where to, fetus?”

They took a taxi since they were going together. Two people flying in the air would have attracted too much attention, and Will would have had to wait an entire afternoon just to get permission to use wings, anyways.

They arrived within half an hour. Carmilla and Will stepped out onto the street, giving the taxi driver his payment and a wave goodbye.

Will looked across the street. “Look over there, kitty,” he said, nudging her and pointing in the distance.

Across from them, a half-finished building stood among an array of construction tools, materials, and vehicles.

“That where Corvae used to be?” Carmilla asked.

“Looks like it,” said Will. “I think they’re building a grocery store over its ruins.”

“Huh.” Carmilla raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement, then turned to face the building they’d come for in the first place.

Mel Callis’ apartment.

The two siblings looked at each other.

“Let’s do this,” said Carmilla.

Will nodded and stepped up to the buzzer. He punched in Mel’s apartment number.

“Hello?” someone answered.

“Hi,” said Will. “Is this Mel Callis?”

“Um, no, but this is Mel Callis’ roommate. Who are you?”

“Er – uh,” said Will, looking momentarily panicked, “I’m Will. I’m here with my sister Carmilla, we’re, uh…reporters. We’re looking into the history of Corvae and was wondering if Mel Callis would be willing to come outside and just have a little chat with us?”

“Um. One sec,” said the voice. There was the sound of static, then the person who answered the buzzer yelling, “Callis! Get down here.”

After a short while of muffled conversation, the first person came back on. “Okay. Both of us are going to head down and meet you. There is a park nearby. We can talk there?”

“That sounds great,” answered Will. “Thank you so much for doing this.”

The buzzer clicked off. Will turned to Carmilla, who was smirking.

“Reporters? Really?”

“Shut up,” said Will defensively. “I got put on the spot.”

“Well, it’s not like we brought notebooks or anything, so we’re going to look like some stupid-ass reporters.”

“Too late now,” said Will as the apartment door swung open.

A tall red-haired girl appeared, followed by a surly-looking dark-haired girl.

“Hey,” the red-haired girl said upon seeing Will and Carmilla. “Are you the reporters?”

“Yes,” said Will.

“Hello,” said the red-haired girl. “I’m Danny Lawrence. This is my roommate, the one and only Mel Callis.”

The dark-haired girl continued to look surly. “Hi.”

“So, should we take this to the park?” asked Danny. “I can lead the way.”

Will and Carmilla followed Danny down the street. Mel trailed behind them. The short trip there was silent among the four of them.

When they reached the park, Danny led them to a small cluster of benches overlooking a pond and gestured for them to sit down. Will and Carmilla took seats opposite Danny and Mel.

“So, what would you like to know?” asked Danny brightly.

“Have you two always been roommates?” Carmilla asked.

“No,” said Mel. “Old roommate moved out. Danny’s been with me for three months now, I think.”

“We saw your online blog,” said Will. “We noticed that a couple of your posts were about Corvae? Can you tell us about them?”

Mel’s face twisted into an expression of disgust. “Oh. Those goons? You know they blew each other up half a year ago, right?”

“Yes, we know,” said Will. “What do you know about them?”

“I don’t know how they ended up destroying themselves,” said Mel. “But I used to catch groups of them leaving all the time. Sometimes it was harmless, ordinary things, like they’d return with groceries or new clothes or whatever. Sometimes they brought back really questionable-looking stuff, all wrapped up in a protective black covering or in a locked box. And I’ve seen them drag themselves back injured on more than one occasion.”

“So you don’t know exactly what they do, but you saw them acting extremely suspicious,” said Will.

“Yep,” said Mel. “And I hate them because I ran into a group of them on the street once. One of them bumped into me in his haste. I might have started arguing with him. I asked him where he was going, because he was holding a black bag in his hands, and he told me to piss off. Some of the group tried to stop him but he shoved me hard and I tripped and twisted my ankle. They just left me on the street like I was dirt.”

Will and Carmilla exchanged a look.

Then Carmilla said, “So…uh, Mel…do you happen to know who Laura Hollis is?”

“Hollis?” repeated Mel, surprised. “Yeah, I know who she is.”

“You do?” Carmilla asked, trying not to show her sudden interest. “We recently ran into someone who used to live in Corvae. Theo Straka? He told us that Laura ruined their apartment complex. He said she was the reason why they had a civil war with each other.”

“Wow, really?” said Mel with raised eyebrows. “Good for her then. I always knew she was a good person deep down.”

“How do you know her?” Will asked. “Did she hate Corvae like you did? Is that how you know her?”

“What?” said Mel. “No way. At least, I don’t think she hated them.”

“Why not?” asked Carmilla, confused.

“Because,” said Mel, “Laura Hollis used to live in Corvae herself.”


	5. Chapter 5

“You’re sick,” said Carmilla.

“No I’m not,” said Laura with a sniffle.

Five seconds later, she sneezed.

“You’re sick,” repeated Carmilla.

“Maybe a little,” Laura conceded.

“Why did you come out here if you’re sick?”

“I wanted to see you,” said Laura.

Carmilla couldn’t believe that this nice, shy girl had been living in the same apartment complex and doing the same things that Theo Straka had. How could it be possible?

Maybe Mel Callis had been bullshitting her. That was always an option, right?

There was no way.

She seemed so lonely.

“You should go home and get some rest,” said Carmilla.

“No,” complained Laura.

She was sitting on the ground with half of the picnic blanket wrapped around her in a soft yellow cocoon and Carmilla thought she looked adorable, but also awful at the same time.

“You look like you’re going to pass out. You haven’t even touched your food.”

“I’m not hungry,” said Laura.

“Because you’re sick.” Carmilla stood up with a sigh, moving so that she was standing in front of Laura. “Come on, cupcake. Go home.”

“At least let me watch the sun set,” said Laura in a small voice.

Laura looked so upset that Carmilla let her stay.

Carmilla sat back down next to Laura, taking her mostly untouched sandwich and putting it back in its wrapping.

“I feel terrible,” Laura admitted finally.

This girl used to be in Corvae. Laura Hollis used to live in Corvae.

“I know,” said Carmilla.

She couldn’t manage to connect the two versions of Laura together. There was no way this current Laura could have possibly been comrades with Theo Straka.

Mel hadn’t told her and Will much after that. Just that they’d met at the very park Danny had taken them to and bonded for ten minutes over feeding the ducks bread. Later, she’d recalled seeing Laura exit and enter the Corvae apartment complex.

Maybe she’d been forced into it against her will?

Carmilla really had to get to the bottom of this now.

But for now, she was focused on keeping Laura conscious long enough to see the sunset.

“You doing okay there, cutie?” asked Carmilla.

“I think so?” said Laura.

Luckily it was approaching mid-summer, so at least the evening air wasn’t _too_ chilly.

The sun finally began to set, and Carmilla found herself watching Laura more than the actual sun slipping under the horizon. Laura seemed to be in much more awe than she usually was.

“Sunsets are really pretty,” she said.

“Yeah,” said Carmilla.

“Just like you.”

That threw Carmilla off. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Peachy,” said Laura. Then she frowned. “I never understood why people called themselves peachy. How are peaches happy? They’re just fruits.”

Carmilla couldn’t help but smile at Laura’s confused expression. Her cheeks were rosy with fever and her eyelids drooped.

The sky was still a deep, dark red, but Carmilla figured staying out any longer wouldn’t be of any help to Laura’s health.

“Okay, up you go,” she said, standing up behind Laura and trying to pull her up by the arms.

Laura whined the whole one-foot journey into the air.

Carmilla sighed and put her down again. “Cupcake, I’m going to need you to unbundle yourself, okay? I can’t lift a giant lump into the air.”

“But it’s warm in here,” said Laura.

“I can give you a piggyback ride, but I can’t do it with you all wrapped up in that blanket.”

Laura seemed to think this through for a moment. Then she said, “Can you fly me home?”

“What?” said Carmilla.

“You have wings right? That’s cool…You could fly with me.” said Laura.

Carmilla contemplated her words.

Why the hell not. “You sure?”

“I wanna fly.”

Carmilla took that as a yes.

“That doesn’t change that fact that you need to stop pretending to be a human burrito, though.”

Laura pouted.

It was making Carmilla weak, but she kept her own expression fixed and pointed.

“Fine…okay…”

Laura pulled off the blanket from around her and haphazardly tried to help Carmilla fold it up again. When she was done, she stuffed it in her drawstring bag. Laura started shivering almost immediately.

“C’mon, cutie.” Carmilla moved to pick Laura up, but she recoiled.

“I don’t want to get you sick too,” she said.

“I’ll be fine,” said Carmilla. “Seriously. Don’t worry about it.”

She clicked the button on her drawstring and the wings formed in their full, white glory.

“Wow,” said Laura in awe. “They’re so _pretty_.”

“Yeah, yeah, now come here,” said Carmilla. This time Laura allowed her to scoop her up in her arms without resistance. Carmilla could feel Laura’s skin burning wherever it made contact with her own.

“All settled?” Carmilla asked.

Laura buried her face into the crook of Carmilla’s neck and curled up against her body. “Yeah,” she almost whispered, her eyes already half-closed.

Carmilla took care not to jostle Laura when she took off into the air, making sure to fly at a slow pace so the wind high up didn’t turn them into popsicles.

“Where are we headed?” Carmilla asked, mostly just to make sure Laura didn’t think she was a stalker.

“My apartment,” Laura offered helpfully.

“Um…yeah. Sure. But where is your apartment?”

Laura scrunched up her face in concentration, appearing to be in deep thought. “Just go…just go some way. Any direction.”

“Cupcake, you can’t just say that to me.”

“Flying is fun.”

Carmilla sighed. Maybe Laura would be too delirious to recognize the fact that Carmilla knew where she lived. So she just took them straight to Laura’s apartment.

After ten minutes of cautious flying, Carmilla finally delivered a half-asleep Laura to her apartment.

“You found my home,” Laura mumbled when Carmilla approached the doorstep.

“I did,” said Carmilla, retracting her wings. She could have sworn Laura almost whined at their disappearance.

“I knew it,” said Laura.

Carmilla stared down at her. “…You knew what?”

“You’re magical. You really are an angel,” Laura proclaimed.

“Um…yes. That’s correct. Do you have your apartment key?”

There was a pause.

“I think it’s in my pocket.”

“Could you get it for me? My arms are kind of full, if you couldn’t tell.”

“Oh. Right,” said Laura sheepishly. She released her hold around Carmilla’s neck to dig around in her jacket pocket. Carmilla felt the absence of heat instantly and almost missed it.

“Found it. Wait, that’s a candy wrapper. Here.” Laura pulled out a small key and stuck it out in the general direction of the apartment door until it clicked.

“Thanks, cupcake.” Carmilla pushed the door open and kicked it shut behind them. “What floor are you?”

“Third,” said Laura, her attention focused on anything but her words.

Carmilla carried Laura up the three flights of stairs, and then crossed by each room until Laura stopped saying “not that one.”

“This’ mine,” said Laura. “Thanks, Carmilla. You’re a real life saver.”

She tumbled out of Carmilla’s arms and Carmilla had to catch her before she hit the ground. “Whoa, there. Are you sure you can make it to bed safely by yourself?”

Laura slumped in Carmilla’s arms, pouting. “Probably not.”

“Do you…want me to take you inside?”

“Yes please.”

Carmilla couldn’t believe she was doing this. Laura opened her apartment door and dragged herself in after Carmilla.

“That’s m’bedroom,” said Laura.

“You go there,” Carmilla told her. “Do you have any medicine around?”

“Somewhere, probably.”

“Okay. Go to bed. I’ll bring you your medicine.”

She watched Laura stumble towards a room off to the side before she made her way into the kitchen, pulling open cabinets and drawers at random.

Laura’s apartment was fairly nice. It was small and simple, but she kept the place pretty clean and neat. Not bad for a nineteen-year-old girl who lived all by herself.

Carmilla found the bottle in the ninth drawer she tried opening, poured a glass of water, and hurried back over to the room Laura had dumped herself in, opening the door to find her curled up into a tiny ball on her bed with her blanket on the floor.

“It’s cold,” said Laura upon sensing Carmilla’s presence in the dark room, lit only by the solitary lamp sitting on the nearby desk.

“That’s because you dropped your blanket,” Carmilla answered. “C’mon. Get up. I have your medicine.”

Carmilla measured the dosage for the medicine and fed it to an obedient, half-conscious Laura. Then she made her drink the entire glass of water.

“This is too much water,” said Laura.

“You need to stay hydrated.”

“You’re going to make me need to pee in the middle of the night.”

“Would you rather need to pee or be sick for a longer time?” Carmilla asked pointedly, pushing the glass of water back into Laura’s hands.

Laura stared at the glass of water. “Good point.”

She finished it and then refused to get changed out of her clothes. When Carmilla was ready to just give up and tuck Laura into bed, she spoke.

“It’s still cold.”

“You’re…wrapped in, like, three layers of blankets right now,” said Carmilla.

“I know,” said Laura, “but…short sleeves. They don’t really help.”

Carmilla sighed. “Do you want my jacket?”

Laura wouldn’t meet Carmilla’s gaze. “…Maybe.”

“You could have just asked me for it, you know,” said Carmilla, trying not to be amused and failing. She took off her jacket and helped Laura into it. Then Laura fell back onto her bed, looking a lot more content than she did before.

“It smells like you,” she said dreamily.

“I would hope so, seeing as it’s my jacket.”

“It’s mine now.”

“Go to sleep, cupcake. It’s getting late.”

“M’kay,” said Laura. “Can you…go turn off the lamp on my desk?”

Carmilla turned to glance at said lamp and then brought her gaze back to Laura. “Sure. Anything else you need me to do?”

“No,” mumbled Laura. “Thank you. Good night, Carmilla.”

“G’nite.”

Carmilla walked over to Laura’s desk, fully prepared to just shut off the light and make a break for it out of the apartment. But she couldn’t help glancing back at Laura lying peacefully under a giant pile of blankets, her expression calm and worry-free. Then she turned back to the lamp and spotted something on the bookshelf behind the desk.

It was a photograph. Carmilla crept closer to get a better look at it, where it was leaning against a row of books. There were two people in it, smiling broadly and hugging: Laura and a middle-aged-looking guy. Laura was holding up something to the camera in her hand. It looked like a lumpy black object, before Carmilla picked the photo up tenderly and realized that the black lump was actually a giant blot of Sharpie marker, concealing whatever was behind it. 

Carmilla could just barely make out the outline of a business card-type piece of paper behind the blot. For some reason, present-day Laura had crossed out whatever had been written on it.

Now she was really curious as to what was behind the Sharpie mark. She took the photo and held it under the lamp light. If she squinted hard enough, some of the text was _very_ slightly visible.

**Welcome to Corvae, Laura Hollis!  
Join date: March 9, 2011**

So she really had been a part of Corvae then.

Yet Laura looked so happy in the picture. So did the guy. Who was he? He looked middle-aged, with dark brown hair and a kind smile. He looked so proud of Laura and Laura looked overjoyed.

Carmilla felt like she’d done enough snooping around for the day, so she put the photo back in its original location, but not without memorizing the date.

She turned before exiting the bedroom one last time to look at Laura sleeping soundly, then left the apartment.

 

…

 

“Fuck.” Carmilla sneezed. Will stared at her.

“How the hell did you manage to get sick?” he asked, slightly alarmed.

“This is nothing, I’m just sneezing a little bit more than usual,” said Carmilla. “Seriously. You should have seen Laura Hollis yesterday. She had it really bad.”

“You hung out around your wisher and got sick because of her?”

Carmilla squinted at him. “So what if I did?”

“Damn, kitty,” said Will. “Someone is _whipped_.”

“Not whipped,” Carmilla grumbled. “She would have passed out if she had gone home by herself.”

“You took her back to her _home_? Wow, that’s even worse than I thought.”

“Shut up, Willy boy. You’re so annoying.”

“At least I’m not sick.”

“ _Minor_ cold. Now be quiet because I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Shoot,” said Will, kicking his legs up onto Carmilla’s desk from the couch.

“How’s Mattie’s time warper coming along?”

Whatever Will had been expecting Carmilla to ask him, it obviously hadn’t been that. “Still in its prototyping phase, but I’m pretty sure she’s just checking for tiny inconsistencies at this point. Why do you ask?”

“So…could I possibly take it for a swing?”

Will stared at Carmilla suspiciously. “…Why?”

“March 9, 2011,” said Carmilla. “Saw a picture in Laura’s house. She was holding up a card in the photo that she’d scratched out, but I saw what it said. She moved into Corvae on March ninth.”

“Oh,” said Will. “And you want to go back and see what had happened then?”

“If I’d be allowed to, yes.”

Will thought for a moment. “I mean, I’ll go and ask Mattie. But honestly, if she were to let us use it, it would probably only be because we’re her siblings.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just tell me how it goes.”

It took Will the better part of the morning to get back to Carmilla, but he eventually did. Just before Carmilla was preparing to leave for lunch, he poked his head into her office.

“She said yeah. You get to use it for two weeks, for now. And whatever you do with it, you’re supposed to report any bugs or whatever to her.”

“Cool,” said Carmilla. “I would, but I don’t actually know how it works.”

Will revealed what he’d been hiding behind his back, a rectangular object slightly larger than the size of a smartphone. “Allow me to show you.”

Carmilla followed Will down to the armory, since there was more space there. He set up shop in the center of the room, placing the device on the ground, screen face-up.

“So this thing doesn’t actually alter time,” Will began explaining as he powered the device on. “What it does is let you determine a range that you want to create a temporary warp in. Then it lets you set the clock back, up to twenty years and accurate to the nearest minute, and watch whatever had happened at the time you chose.”

“Okay,” said Carmilla, crouching down beside him.

“So, let’s say you wanted to see if anything had happened in this armory, how about, thirty days ago.” Will tapped some things on the screen and a blue holographic field appeared in the air. “This is the warp. You can change its coordinates like this.” He manipulated the warp until it encompassed the entire armory. “Now we set the date, like this. Okay. After the light right there turns green, you’re free to start the warp.”

Will hit the “GO” button and the time warper whirred. One of their fellow agents popped up in the warp in the armory, inspecting the wall of weapons. Carmilla reached out to try and touch the guy, curious. Her hand passed right through his body.

“Nothing you or anyone else does in the present day can affect what goes on in the warp,” said Will. “If you’re outside the warp, you can’t see anything out of the ordinary happening, but as soon as you step within range, everything has a bluish tint and honestly, it’s like you’re just watching a really fancy holographic video.”

“So this guy actually walked in here at this exact time thirty days ago?” asked Carmilla.

“Yep.”

 “And if I used this on the location where Corvae used to stand and set it back three years, I’d see Laura Hollis from the past going about her daily business.”

“In theory, yes.”

“This is some black magic shit right here.”

“I know. Mattie is insane.”

“Damn.”

“If you wanted,” suggested Will, “the guys who are working on building the grocery store over the ruins of Corvae get off work around five tonight. We could go use the time warper there then.”

“Wait, I can’t,” said Carmilla. “That’s when I go watch the sun set with Laura.”

“Kitty, you said she’s _sick_ right now.”

“She was sick yesterday and that didn’t stop her from trying to go and see me.”

Will was looking at Carmilla in exasperation. “If you don’t want to use it during the evenings, you’re going to have to wait until Sunday for them to be off work again. That’s in two days.”

“I’m not going to take the risk,” said Carmilla.

Will coughed. It sounded suspiciously like the word “whipped.”

“I am leaving,” said Carmilla, swiping the time warper from off the ground and standing up, “and I am taking this with me, and we are going to wait until Sunday to use it.”

“Fine.” Will threw his hands up in mock surrender. “Whatever you want. I mean, you already got sick because of her anyway. What’s pushing back your schedule for her gonna do?”

“Shut _up_ , you dumbass.”

 

…

 

Laura wasn’t at the cliff that evening.

Carmilla waited half an hour, holding worriedly onto two sandwiches and a small container of chicken soup, but Laura never showed up.

So she called Will.

“Come back then,” he said, and Carmilla could hear the “I told you so” hanging in his voice through the phone.

“Should I go to her apartment?”

“Kitty. She’s sick, she’s not going to watch the sun set with you, and you have a time warper waiting for you back at your office, just begging to be used.”

“I’m worried about her,” said Carmilla.

“She’s nineteen, I’m sure she can take care of herself just fine.”

“What if something happened?”

Will sighed. “Since you’re two hundred years older than me, I’m just going to back off now and tell you to do whatever the hell you want. So if you want to pine after the girl, go do that.”

“I’m not _pining_ after some teenager I’ve known for two and a half weeks, dimwit, I’m – ugh, I’m hanging up now. Thanks for nothing.”

Carmilla ended the call and shoved her phone back into her pocket with a sigh.

Will was right. Laura wasn’t here and she should go back to the office.

She was dying to see if the time warper would reveal anything at the place where Corvae used to be located and now was the perfect opportunity to do so.

So, naturally, Carmilla went to Laura’s apartment instead.

Laura wasn’t answering the buzzer. Carmilla almost left, having no way to get in, but a kindly old man who had been entering the building just then gave her a free pass once she’d explained why she was there.

She climbed up the three flights of stairs to Laura’s floor and stopped in front of her door. After two and a half seconds of hesitation, she knocked.

It took Laura a while to open the door, but she eventually did. Her tired eyes widened immediately when she realized it was Carmilla who was standing in the doorway.

“You – oh, it was you with the buzzer? Wow, hi,” said Laura.

“Hey,” said Carmilla. “How are you feeling?”

“Pretty bad,” Laura admitted, “but definitely better than yesterday.”

“That’s good to hear.” Carmilla glanced down at Laura in her cute pajamas with bunnies printed on them and Carmilla’s jacket hanging loosely over her shoulders. Laura caught her looking and blushed. Carmilla smiled. “Why are you so cute?”

“I’m not,” Laura insisted.

Carmilla held out the food she’d brought. “I, uh, I brought you some soup. And…I read online that eating bread is good for you when you’re sick. I’m not sure how accurate or reliable that information is, but…I have sandwiches.”

She rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand, refusing to make eye contact now that she realized how concerned her words sounded.

Laura gave her a sappy look.

“You came all the way over here to give me this even though I didn’t go to the cliff today?” Laura asked, taking some of the food and letting Carmilla into the apartment after her.

“Well yeah...I was worried about you,” said Carmilla.

It was hard to tell that Laura was blushing through the haze of fever, but Carmilla knew she was, with that dopey expression on her face.

They crashed onto Laura’s couch, munching through the sandwiches.

“This soup is good,” said Laura contentedly. “Where’d you get it?”

“I.” Carmilla coughed. “I made it.”

Laura’s face split into a wide grin. “Carmilla, this is amazing! _You’re_ amazing.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Carmilla took a big bite out of her sandwich to avoid having to keep talking and therefore running the risk of making a fool of herself.

“Do you want your jacket back?” Laura asked, tugging at the zipper. “I should probably wash it before giving you all my germs though…”

“Nah, it’s okay,” said Carmilla. “You look cute in it.”

“Oh. Okay. Cool.” Laura tried to hide her pleasure at Carmilla’s answer, but it didn’t really work.

They chatted for a while, but mostly Carmilla sat next to Laura and tried to force her to eat some actual food instead of just medicine while Laura pouted and did her best not to fall asleep.

It felt like all too soon that Carmilla was getting up, telling Laura she had to leave.

“Oh! Bye,” said Laura, looking disappointed but trying not to show it. “Thank you for coming to visit me.”

“Get better soon,” said Carmilla. “Take care, cutie.”

Laura stuck out her tongue at Carmilla.

Carmilla rolled her eyes but smiled and stepped out of the apartment.

It was getting a little hard not to like Laura.

Carmilla walked briskly up the rest of the stairs to get to the roof, lost in thought.

She _had_ to figure out just what the hell was going on with Laura Hollis.


	6. Chapter 6

“You ready?” asked Will.

Carmilla looked up at the half-constructed grocery store, the place where the apartment complex known as Corvae once stood. She shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“That’s the spirit,” said Will, patting Carmilla on the back. Carmilla glared at him. He just laughed and retracted his hand.

The two siblings walked up to the sliding doors. Carmilla gently inched one open and slipped inside, Will following shortly after.

“I’m just gonna…put this here.” Carmilla positioned the time warper onto a nearby shelf.

She messed with the size of the time warper until its range contained the entirety of the store and then a bit more.

“Now for the date,” said Will, nodding.

Carmilla punched in the numbers.

March 9.

2011.

It was a little surreal, knowing that she was about to get a glimpse into Laura Hollis’ past.

Carmilla started the time warper. Instantly, the surroundings changed, throwing her off.

“Whoa,” she said.

“I know,” said Will. “If you concentrate hard enough, you can see where the objects in the warp are and where the objects in reality are.”

Carmilla was barely listening. Instead of standing in a mostly empty grocery store with supplies haphazardly stacked against the walls, she was now surrounded by carpet, soft reddish wallpaper, and a bunch of couches on the bottom floor of the Corvae apartment building.

For some reason, the place felt oddly…familiar. Carmilla told herself that there was no way she had been here in the past.

That didn’t help to dissipate the uneasy feeling sinking in her stomach.

“Look,” said Will, turning Carmilla’s attention out the room and into the hallway.

The door was open, and standing next to a middle-aged man was…sixteen-year-old Laura Hollis.

Carmilla sucked in a breath.

She walked down the hallway, taking care not to trip over anything in reality in the grocery store, close enough to hear Laura and the man talking.

“Are you nervous?” he was asking her.

“A little bit,” Laura admitted.

She looked younger, obviously, but the same sadness was still there, if only in a slightly less intensity. The man put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, and Laura seemed to relax into the touch.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I got permission from the head himself. They’re letting you in. You’re getting your own room to stay in.”

“Wow,” said Laura, like she couldn’t imagine what that felt like.

The man smiled and nudged her. “Head up, Hollis. You’re staring at the ground again.”

Laura smiled sheepishly. She raised her head to get a real look at the building. “Thanks.”

“C’mon. Let’s get you into your new home.”

The two walked up the stairs and into the hallway. Carmilla stepped aside to allow them to pass before remembering that they weren’t real.

She caught Will grinning at her from back in the room.

“Shut up,” she huffed, following Laura and the man back into the room she and Will had first appeared in.

The man and Laura took a seat on one of the couches in the room. Laura played with the hem of her shirt nervously while the man pulled out his phone and made a call.

“…Yeah? Listen, is the old Baron home? I brought the newbie. Hollis.”

A few minutes later, a kind-looking old man hobbled into the room. “Johnson,” he said warmly. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Good to see you too, Mr. Vordenberg,” replied the man, Johnson. He turned towards Laura. “This is the girl I’ve been talking about. Her name is Laura Hollis.”

Vordenberg turned towards Laura. “Laura Hollis, is it?”

Laura nodded, refusing to make eye contact with him.

“I am Baron Vordenberg, owner of Corvae apartment complex,” he continued in his kind voice. “We are here to provide a safe place for you to live. Would you like your own room?”

Laura nodded again, a little bit faster this time.

“Very well,” Vordenberg said. “You’re in luck. There’s an open room on the second floor. Welcome to Corvae, Laura.”

“I’ll take her there,” said Johnson, standing up. Vordenberg reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, giving it to Johnson.

Vordenberg left to go across to the next room, while Johnson and Laura headed back out into the hallway. Carmilla watched them go, eyebrows raised.

“What the hell?” she said.

Will shook his head. “I’m just as confused as you are, kitty.”

Carmilla followed Johnson and Laura until they reached the stairs, and then disappeared up them.

“Wait,” said Carmilla.

“You go,” said Will. “Use your wings. They’re on the second floor, so you _shouldn’t_ end up banging your head on the ceiling of the grocery store. I’ll keep watch outside the warp and make sure no confused humans accidentally step in.”

Carmilla looked at him skeptically, but the urge to find out what Johnson and Laura were doing won out, and she extended her wings, hovering uncertainly up into the air.

Will laughed at her when she winced and passed straight through the ceiling of Corvae’s first floor.

It took her a short while, but she eventually found Laura again, following Johnson as he unlocked a door and opened it, gesturing for her to enter.

Luckily for Carmilla, the support beams lining the ceiling of the grocery store jutted out right at this level. She pulled herself onto one, looking comfortably down at Laura as she scanned the room in wonder.

She was taking in everything like she’d never seen an apartment room before.

“My own room?” Laura whispered.

Johnson laughed. “Yep, little Hollis. It’s all yours. Your own place to live.”

“Wow,” said Laura. Suddenly, she turned around and hugged Johnson. “Thank you so much.”

“Anytime,” said Johnson. “Here’s your key.” He pulled a card out of his pocket, upon which a shiny brass key was taped. He peeled it off and handed it to Laura, who pocketed it carefully.

“What’s that say?” she asked, indicating the little card Johnson was left holding.

“It’s just a welcome card,” said Johnson, showing her. “Says your name and the date you joined us.”

“Can we take a picture with it?” Laura asked.

Johnson looked at her. “Sure, why not?”

He pulled out his phone and tilted it towards them. Laura took the card from Johnson and held it out proudly towards the camera.

Carmilla had never seen her smile so genuinely, so broadly ever.

She looked so overjoyed.

For what?

To finally have a home?

Laura gave Johnson another hug and then he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Carmilla watched her for maybe twenty minutes more, feeling a little bit like a creep, but Laura didn’t do anything else. She spent ten minutes just checking out everything in her room, which consisted of a twin bed with clean white sheets, a desk with a small lamp on it and a couple shelves to hold all her stuff.

It wasn’t even that much, but Laura looked relieved to be there.

Carmilla dropped lightly back down onto the ground of the grocery store, finding the time warper and squinting at the screen.

She considered fast-forwarding the time by one full day, but just then, Will appeared again.

“Good thing I decided to check outside,” he announced. “Some thugs just tried to vandalize the opposite wall. I don’t know why, but anyway. I scared ‘em off before they could get too close to the warp. See anything interesting?”

“Not really,” said Carmilla. “But…Laura looked so _happy_ to be in Corvae.”

“Okay?” said Will.

“I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right that moving into the same apartment as Theo Straka would, you know, generate a positive emotion?”

“Maybe it really was just a good place to live,” said Will. “Maybe both Straka and Laura felt at home here, and it was just an apartment complex.”

“Oh yeah, that explains the part where Straka accused Laura of destroying it all,” said Carmilla.

“We can discuss this later. It’s time for lunch.”

“You can leave. I’m not done yet.”

Will raised his eyebrows, but knew better than to argue. “Suit yourself, kitty.”

After he left, Carmilla took the time warper and went back up to her spot, perched on the steel beam. She changed the date twenty-four hours forward.

Nothing had changed. Laura was just sitting comfortably at her desk, reading a book that Carmilla guessed Johnson had got for her.

She scrolled through two more weeks.

Where was the questionable crap that Mel Callis claimed Corvae pulled?

Laura was literally just living. Her life. In the apartment.

After a bit of navigating, Carmilla figured out how to access a bunch of rooms on both the first and second floor. She learned that some of the rooms on the first floor had been converted into places for everyone in Corvae to just hang out and socialize. There was a big dining room, a kitchen, and several bathrooms on each floor.

Honestly, Corvae was turning out to be less of an apartment and more of a permanent-residence hotel-type place.

Carmilla watched the building through a full month in fast-forward. Laura started hanging out in the lounges more, making new friends with the other people in Corvae. Some of them were as young as she was. Most were older.

She ate meals together with them and laughed at their jokes during breaks and read different books alone in her room at night.

Carmilla briefly wondered why Laura wasn’t going to school.

Finally, after a month had passed in the warp, Johnson knocked on Laura’s door one day. He took a seat in her desk chair while she sat on her bed.

“You know Corvae, we’re not like other apartment complexes,” began Johnson. “We work together. A lot of people were in bad places, like you, in the past, but we banded together and now we look out for each other. So I hope you’re okay with starting to help out around here?”

“Of course,” said Laura earnestly. “I’d love to help.”

Carmilla leaned forward a little in anticipation.

“Great,” said Johnson. “Some of the others around getting ready to buy some groceries. You can tag along. I think one of them has a list of stuff we’re running low on.”

“Okay,” said Laura.

Well.

That surprised Carmilla.

She was expecting something more in the rob-people-and-commit-shady-crimes vein.

Confused, she speed-watched two more months. Laura never got sent on anything scarier than a grocery trip. Once she was asked to deliver something to someone nearby. Twice she was asked to pick up packages and bring them back.

Carmilla wondered if they contained anything suspicious, but Laura turned out to be just as curious as her. She took a peek at the delivery every single time. It was never anything more dangerous than prescription medicine for some guy in Corvae who was sick.

It was getting late, and Carmilla was starting to have more questions than answers, so she packed up the time warper, shutting it off with a click of a button. The Corvae building winked out of existence, momentarily unbalancing her as she realized just far off the ground of the grocery store she was. She coasted down to the floor, dusting herself off and shaking her head to clear her thoughts. Then she stepped outside and headed back to the agency office.

 

…

 

“That’s…definitely not what I was expecting.”

Carmilla was in Will’s office on Monday at noon, having just recounted everything she’d seen in the warp to him.

“Me too,” she agreed. “Do you think the time warp is faulty and just trying to keep everything at a PG rating?”

Will laughed. “That would be cute. No, kitty, maybe Corvae really wasn’t all as bad as Callis made it out to be.”

“Yeah, totally,” Carmilla said with a snort. “Laura spent like, what, maybe three years in that place? I’ve only gone through three months. Who knows what’ll turn up?”

“So…I take it this means you’re going to be investigating more at the grocery store tonight after the workers finish up for the day,” Will said slowly and deliberately, a cheeky smile plastered on his face.

Carmilla glared at him. “I hate you.”

“You’re willing to wait an entire week until next Sunday just so you don’t have to let down your wisher.”

“Like I said, I hate you.”

“That’s not a valid answer.”

“You never asked a question, dumbass.”

Will sighed and leaned back into his desk chair, the two front legs lifting off of the ground. “Well then, here’s a question for you. Are you really going to let those questions I know are swirling around in your head stew for six whole days before you could possibly answer them?”

“Yes,” said Carmilla.

Will stared at her pointedly.

Carmilla looked down at the ground. “No.”

“Ha!” shouted Will.

“Doesn’t mean I’m taking time out of my evening schedule to go back,” Carmilla muttered. Then she paused. “Wait. Do you think we’ve missed the workers’ lunch break yet?”

It took Will a second to understand what Carmilla was getting at, but when he did, his eyes widened. “Dude. At most, you’ll have a one-hour window. And we haven’t even gotten there yet! We have to take a taxi if we’re going together.”

“I’ll just go alone,” said Carmilla.

“Who would yell at you to warn you of impending danger then?”

“Clearly, we have no time to waste, then,” answered Carmilla, and with that, she strode out of Will’s office. He stared dumbly at the spot she’d just vacated, thoroughly surprised.

“Kitty – wait, wait up!”

 

…

 

Carmilla had completely left Will in the dust. By the time he’d caught up to her, she was halfway through a new day in the time warp.

“I – hate – you…had to – run – halfway here…” Will panted as he came to a halt on the floor of the grocery store.

“I can’t see you,” said Carmilla, swinging her legs back and forth, sitting on the steel beam at the top of the ceiling and clutching the time warper tightly.

“You’re such a baby sometimes,” sighed Will.

“Says you, Mr. I-think-the-word- _duty_ -sounds-hilarious.”

Carmilla actually couldn’t see him through the virtual floor of the Corvae apartment complex. After a pause, she heard Will’s voice say, “Anyway. You have twenty minutes here, tops, before they get back. Make this worth it. I’m going outside to keep watch.”

She heard his footsteps fade away, and then turned her attention back to past-Laura’s room.

Nothing happened for a full week in the warp with Carmilla mindlessly fast-forwarding through most of it. Literally nothing. Just Laura reading a book. Laura downstairs talking to a couple of other Corvae guys. Laura occasionally being a delivery boy for the whole apartment.

Laura being…happy.

Carmilla was wasting time and getting no answers.

So she jumped the time forward by half a year, not expecting anything interesting and already half-asleep.

Seconds later, she froze.

Six-months-older Laura Hollis happened to be in the room, but her entire demeanor had changed so drastically, Carmilla almost got whiplash.

Her few clothes were now thrown all over the room and a few appeared to have rips in them. The bed was unmade, which was only noticeable because she’d meticulously made it every single day when she’d first arrived. The room just seemed darker. The atmosphere seemed darker. Laura had dark bags under her eyes.

She looked frightened.

A knock came at her door. Laura opened it to reveal a slightly younger Theo Straka standing in the hallway.

Carmilla instantly felt herself flare up at the sight of him.

“Hey, Hollis,” said Theo, leaning arrogantly against the door frame and Carmilla wanted to tear his face off. “I got word from Vordenberg himself that we know the location of one of the guys who disrespected us and took some of our stuff. Nothing too scary, we’re just going to take back what’s ours and scram. You in?”

“I…uh, I’m actually a little tired right now!” said Laura, looking everywhere around the room except at Theo. “I…stayed up really late last night and just want to take a nap…”

Theo narrowed his eyes at her. “Look, Hollis, Vordenberg did us a huge favor. You and I were nothing when they found us. You owe everything you have right now to him and his kindness. The least you could do is repay the favor when he needs help.”

“I liked it better when all I had to do was deliver things,” said Laura in a small voice.

“That’s children’s work,” scoffed Theo. “Besides…I heard from the other guys. I know you’ve only done a few _real_ tasks, but they know you’re good. You’re small and fast. You’re pretty useful.”

“Okay, fine! Fine,” said Laura, looking anything but fine. “Just give me a few minutes to prep.”

Theo shrugged and left.

Carmilla watched as Laura walked slowly to her desk and pick up a photo. It was the same one, the one with her and Johnson in it, that had been taken when she’d first arrived.

“I’m only doing this so I don’t get caught,” Laura told the photo shakily. “I’m only doing this so they don’t kick me out.”

She set the photo back down, took a deep breath, and then followed after Theo, outside and down the stairs.

Heart beating rapidly, Carmilla set the clock ahead another two months.

There was dried blood on one of Laura’s shirts.

Another month.

Laura was sitting on her bed, crying.

Johnson sat next to her, arm around her shoulders, trying to comfort her.

“I know, little Hollis,” he said. “I know.”

One more month.

Laura was in a lounge, sitting on a couch by herself while people around her were celebrating about something. Theo came stumbling up to her, a satisfied grin on his face.

“Nice work out there, Hollis,” Theo said. “Never knew you packed such a punch. If you hadn’t decked that guy and knocked him out, we might have gotten into a really sticky situation.”

Laura gave him an alarmingly fake smile, but Theo seemed to accept it, and he nodded before moving away again.

Later that night, Laura lay wide awake on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“I punched a guy,” she said to the empty room. “I hurt an innocent person. I knocked someone out.”

She took a deep breath.

“I’m only doing this so I don’t get caught. I’m only doing this so I don’t get kicked out.”

Carmilla couldn’t bear to watch Laura continue to beat herself up anymore. She got ready to change the date again when she heard a clash from somewhere down below.

“Get ready to scram, kitty, wherever you are! They’re coming back. We need to head out now if you don’t want to answer any questions!”

Without really realizing what she was doing, Carmilla shut off the time warper, feeling both empty and relieved when the Corvae building disappeared. She half-fell, half-flew back to the ground, landing roughly on her feet in front of a surprised Will.

“Um, are you okay?” he asked.

Carmilla didn’t answer him. She sprinted out of the grocery store, too lost in her own thoughts to be aware of anything else.

 

…

 

When Laura had caught Carmilla staring at her for the third time that evening, she couldn’t help but ask about it.

“Carmilla, are you okay?” she asked tentatively.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” said Carmilla, forcing herself to tear her eyes away from Laura.

Laura looked down at Carmilla’s untouched dinner.

Carmilla buried her face in her hands. “I’m a just a little tired, cupcake,” she said. “Work is kind of stressing me out. That’s all.”

Laura frowned and scooted closer, concern evident in her expression. “What is it that you do? It seems like a big workload to handle.”

“It’s – it’s not a big deal. Really. The more important question is, are you okay?”

“Yes?” Laura said, confused. “I got over my sickness days ago, if that’s what you mean…?”

“Y-yeah. That’s what I meant.”

Mother had said Carmilla would be able to relate to Laura.

That’s why she’d assigned her to this wish.

How could she have possibly guessed…?

Laura held Carmilla’s gaze for a few seconds longer, her face scrunched up like she was trying to read her mind. Carmilla thought it was adorable.

“Hm,” said Laura. She pushed aside the food in between them on the picnic blanket and crawled over from her cross-legged position a few feet away. She scooted up to Carmilla, pressing close and resting her head on her shoulder. Carmilla relaxed, letting out a breath slowly.

“I don’t know if it matters to you or not,” said Laura, resting her hand ever so lightly on Carmilla’s upper arm, and Carmilla’s skin tingled at the contact. “But if you’re ever stressed out or something, um…you can talk to me. If you wanted. I would listen.”

Carmilla rested her head atop Laura’s on her shoulder. “Thanks, cupcake. I’ll keep that in mind.”

The sun began to set.

“I feel like you carry a lot inside you,” Laura said softly.

It was warm outside, but Carmilla found the heat pressing between her and Laura comforting. “What do you mean?”

“Like, you seem so weary all the time,” said Laura. “As if you’ve gone through a lot. I just see it in the way you hold yourself.”

She burrowed closer into Carmilla and Carmilla let her. It was almost funny that Laura would say that when she herself had put up with so much. “Someone’s getting deep tonight.”

“Sorry, not sorry,” Laura said with a faint smile on her face. “I’m exhausted too. I guess it was a busy day for both of us.”

It took the rest of the sunset and a few minutes afterwards for Carmilla to realize that Laura was falling asleep against her shoulder.

“Cupcake. Hey. Don’t you want to go home first?” asked Carmilla.

“It’s nice out,” Laura mumbled. “Warm but not humid.”

“You don’t have any blankets.”

“We have a picnic blanket.”

“We are currently sitting on said picnic blanket and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to sleep on the ground.”

“Then you be my blanket.” Laura said it so matter-of-factly that Carmilla’s heart skipped a beat.

“You’re ridiculous,” said Carmilla.

Laura flopped onto her back, pulling Carmilla down with her.

It was still very early in the night, but Laura was fast asleep in a matter of minutes. Carmilla couldn’t just leave her here, and she looked so peaceful, it would be a crime to wake her now.

So Carmilla watched over her, alternating her gaze between the stars above and Laura’s blissful expression. Will sent her sixteen texts over the course of a few hours asking where the hell she was before she finally responded and told him to shut up.

Eventually Carmilla fell asleep as well, vaguely aware of Laura’s body pressing into her side and the steady rise and fall of her even breathing.


	7. Chapter 7

Two weeks passed, making it just over one month since Carmilla had been assigned to fulfill Laura’s wish.

During the day, she either sat in her office and brooded, or when she was in an acceptable mood, went out and completed a couple random assignments.

At noon she made her way as fast as possible to the unfinished grocery store and tried to watch more of Laura’s stay at Corvae. It hurt, but she slowly sifted her way through more and more of the three-year time period.

Carmilla was currently at two years. Now-eighteen-year-old Laura was in the room closest to the Corvae building exit, sitting on a couch as a couple people around her seemed to be preparing to leave.

Johnson entered the room and spotted Laura immediately. He moved over and sat down next to her.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” said Laura.

She sounded so dead. So defeated.

“How are you holding up?”

“I didn’t know it was going to be like this,” said Laura.

Johnson gazed at her for a moment. Then he said, very quietly, “Talk to me after we come back, okay? In your room.”

Laura nodded.

Vordenberg yelled at them to get going.

They left.

 

…

 

Carmilla had to avert her gaze when Laura and the rest of the guys came back. Almost all of them had some sort of injury, but two were carrying a third person in between them, limp and broken.

They carried him up the stairs as soon as they’d stepped inside. Some dispersed uneasily. Others followed the duo holding the unconscious guy.

Theo Straka rounded on Laura before she could get back to her room.

“What the _hell_ , Hollis!” he shouted. “What were you _thinking_? Why didn’t you hit the attacker? You were the only one in range, you could have averted this whole mess! You could have saved one of our guys from his injury!”

Laura took a step back, eyes wide and fearful. “H-he would have died – I would have killed him –”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” said Theo. “You’ve been here for two years now. Toughen up! If you want to show your appreciation for Vordenberg, who, might I remind you, brought you here from the verge of _starvation_ , you have to learn how to get rid of his enemies!”

“Please,” Laura said in a tiny voice.

Carmilla wanted to pound Theo into a pulp, but seeing as he wasn’t real, she couldn’t.

She should have hurt him a lot worse back when she’d bumped into him in real life.

“I know what that looks like,” Theo said. “I saw his injuries. He’s going to be paralyzed. At least waist down, probably for the rest of his life. You didn’t kill the attacker, so _he_ got hurt instead. You just put one of our _comrades_ out of commission. Forever.”

“I – I’m sorry –”

Theo shoved her.

Johnson stepped in between them, shielding Laura behind him and sending Theo a death glare.

“Leave her alone,” said Johnson. “She did far better than any of us tonight, okay? I don’t see you retrieving anything useful. So back off.”

Theo eyed Johnson angrily before he decided it wouldn’t be worth picking a fight with a man at least twenty years his senior, so he huffed and stormed away.

Laura clung to Johnson, her eyes squeezed shut.

“Hey,” he said softly. “Little Hollis. Look at me. Let’s go upstairs, okay?”

 

…

 

“How are you holding up?” Johnson asked after Laura had closed and locked her room door.

Laura flopped onto her bed with a massive sigh. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this.”

Johnson looked down at his hands before speaking. “Do you want to get out of here?”

“Where would I go?” Laura whispered. “Corvae is my home. Theo is right. I had nothing before I came here.”

“You could come with me,” Johnson suggested.

Laura looked up at Johnson. “…You want to leave too?”

“Yeah,” said Johnson, laughing humorlessly. “It’s not…this place isn’t the same as it was before. Something’s changed Vordenberg.”

“I can’t leave,” said Laura. “I would have nothing. You would have nothing too.”

“I would have you and you would have me.”

“I know, but. They would come after us too. We’d be traitors.”

Johnson sighed. “You’re right. Just keep it up for a while longer, we’ll think of something. We’ll get out of here together.”

Laura tried to sit up, but winced when she put pressure on her arm. Johnson looked over and noticed the slash on her left bicep.

“Here, let me fix that up,” he said gently, pulling Laura up towards him.

He went to get the first aid kit Laura now had stashed under her desk and cleaned up her wound.

“Thank you,” said Laura when he was done.

Johnson gave her a light hug. “Anytime. Stay strong, okay?”

Laura nodded.

She cried into her pillow after he left.

 

…

 

“Carmilla, really, are you okay?”

“I’m…I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Work’s just crazy.”

“…Oh.”

“What’s the matter, cupcake?”

“Nothing. Just…you don’t usually initiate the…touching first.”

“Sorry.”

“No, no, it’s fine! It’s…it’s nice.”

“…I think it’s nice, too.”

 

…

 

“You’ve stopped talking to me,” said Will.

“I’m talking to you right now,” Carmilla grumbled.

“You know what I mean! I don’t know what you’re seeing in that time warp because you won’t tell me and you keep slipping off without having me tag along.”

“Oh, would you look at the time.”

“It’s…four-thirty. Where the hell are you going this early?”

“To the cliff,” said Carmilla nonchalantly.

“To watch the sun set?” Will asked, eyebrows raised.

“Yes. Laura keeps coming earlier and earlier so I have to too.”

Will called out “whipped” as Carmilla left her office, but when she shut the door behind her, she missed his worried expression.

 

…

 

Johnson was standing in the doorway to Laura’s room. It was a couple days later.

“You ready?” he asked.

“I might as well be,” said Laura. She took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again, she stared half-determinedly back at Johnson. “I’m doing this only so I don’t get caught.”

“I believe you,” he replied.

Laura didn’t budge.

Johnson nudged her. “Head up, Hollis. You can do this.”

Laura smiled. “Thanks. I needed that.”

 

…

 

“Hey. We’ve known each other for a full month now.”

“Heh. That’s pretty cool.”

“I’m really glad I met you, Carm.”

“…I’m glad I met you too.”

 

…

 

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,” said Carmilla.

“What do you mean?” asked Will.

“I’ve gotten way too close to Laura. I can’t keep my job, my true self hidden away from her forever.”

Will made a face. “Ooh yeah. That’s gotta be rough. See, _this_ is why it's not really a good idea for us reveal ourselves to the wishers.”

“Would I get in trouble if I told her who I was?” asked Carmilla, even though she already knew the answer.

“Definitely.”

“Great.” Carmilla groaned and faceplanted into her desk. “Just great.”

 

…

 

Vordenberg had figured out where the guy that Laura had refused to kill was squatting. He called her into his room one day to give her another chance.

“If you end this man’s life before the week is over, I will forgive you for indirectly hurting one of our comrades,” he told her.

“Okay,” said Laura, and she was thankful that Vordenberg failed to realize how high her voice had gotten.

She went straight to Johnson’s room after that, just shaking for five whole minutes before she could talk to him.

“I can’t do it,” she said, over and over again. “He wants me to kill a person. I can’t do it.”

“Then don’t,” said Johnson, one hand on Laura’s back rubbing comforting circles, his brow furrowed.

“I have to,” said Laura. “Otherwise I will get kicked out. And then I will have nothing.”

Johnson rubbed his face and sighed. “I’ll do it.”

Laura’s eyes widened. “I couldn’t make you do that.”

“You’re right, you can’t,” said Johnson. “It’s my own choice. Take me along, and I’ll do it for you. No one else has to know.”

“Are…are you sure?”

“Yes,” said Johnson. “I’m sure. When do you have to do it by, anyway?”

“The end of the week.”

“Okay. Call me whenever you’re ready, then.”

 

…

 

“Carm, you look exhausted.”

Carmilla forced her head up from where she’d been nodding off against Laura’s shoulder. “I am exhausted,” she said with a groan. “Work is really killing me.”

Laura pouted. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“It’s okay,” said Carmilla. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

She moved her gaze from the sunset to Laura’s face, her worried expression, and thought about what she’d been seeing in the time warp. Carmilla was only a few months away from the time Laura moved into her current apartment now.

Usually she had no problem snooping in wishers’ business and personal lives. It was necessary a lot of the time to complete the assignments. It was encouraged, even. The better she knew them, the better she could fulfill their wish. And it wasn’t like she particularly cared about every single individual person’s sob story.

But with Laura, Carmilla felt like she was trespassing, like she was betraying her trust.

Laura didn’t know what Carmilla was getting up to at work.

And Carmilla didn’t know how much longer she could keep such a big secret from Laura.

Since when did her job become _stressful_? It was supposed to be easy and short-term satisfying.

“Earth to Carmilla.”

“Sorry,” she said, shaking her head as if it would clear it. “Just thinking about things.”

“You’ re doing that a lot these days,” Laura said with a small sigh, and moved to lean on Carmilla.

Carmilla wrapped her arm around Laura’s waist, and they sat like that for the remainder of the sunset. “I know,” she said eventually. “There’s just been a lot to think about.”

 

…

 

She heard him barge into the grocery store before she saw him.

“So _this_ is what you’ve been getting up to at two in the freaking morning.”

Carmilla didn’t turn around. “Don’t even bother. I’m about to leave, anyway.”

“Kitty, you have to rest your own body and mind before you throw yourself into work like this.”

“I can’t,” said Carmilla. “I’m almost done looking through the whole thing.”

“I’ve never seen you overexert yourself like this,” Will protested. “I’m _worried_ about you.”

“I am too,” said Carmilla.

Will sighed.

“Just hurry up and be careful, okay?”

“Yeah, I will.”

 

…

 

Laura didn’t call Johnson to do the thing Vordenberg had said to do until the last day of the deadline.

He’d practically had to drag her out of Corvae.

“What’s that you’ve got there?” he asked her, sitting on Laura’s bed as she scrambled around her room to get ready.

“Oh, it’s just a keychain thing,” said Laura, putting the small object into her pants pocket. “Someone gave it to me when I was little. For good luck, you know?”

Johnson smiled. “Yeah. That’s pretty awesome.”

Laura paused at the entrance to her room when they were getting ready to leave.

“I’m only doing this so I don’t get caught,” she repeated to herself under her breath.

They were gone for a full day, having left at the crack of dawn. It was late evening by the time they returned.

Johnson sported a few cuts on his arms and the bottom corner of his shirt was stained with a little bit of red.

Laura had a black eye.

And she looked completely destroyed.

Vordenberg found out that night and congratulated her, telling her he knew she was extremely capable from the beginning and that he was proud of all that she’d accomplished.

Theo Straka found out the next day and tried to offer her a fist bump. For a second, Carmilla was convinced that Laura was going to throw a punch at him, but she refrained and simply tapped his fist with her own before sprinting back upstairs to her room.

She kept her door locked for the remainder of the day and nobody had the heart to call her out of it.

 

…

 

Exactly two months before Laura had moved into her new apartment, she was called to Vordenberg’s room for a “very important meeting.”

She went downstairs all by herself, fiddling with the hem of her shirt the entire way.

“Come in,” came Vordenberg’s creaky old voice when she knocked on his door.

She went in and the old man smiled at her. She smiled tentatively back.

“Have a seat, Hollis,” Vordenberg said, and so Laura sat down in the chair opposite his. “I suppose you’re wondering why I called you in here today.”

Laura nodded, almost imperceptibly. She wouldn’t look Vordenberg in the eyes.

“Well, then I’ll tell you why,” he said warmly. “As you can obviously tell, I am getting old. I’m planning on retiring soon. Maybe not for five years, but before that happens, I wanted to pick a successor.”

Carmilla saw the realization flash in Laura’s eyes, before she desperately tried to tamp it down.

“I – I’m not sure I…fully understand…”

Vordenberg smiled. “I know there are many who are years older than you, decades even. But no one has the fire you have. No one is as quick and reflexive as you. You’re fast both on your feet and with your mind. With a little bit of instruction, you could become the perfect leader of Corvae after me.”

Laura’s eyes widened. “I – I don’t know – I don’t think –”

For some stupid reason, Vordenberg seemed to take Laura’s reaction as a sign of modesty instead of a near-breakdown state of nervousness.

“It’s quite all right, Hollis. I know for a fact that you have it in you. I could not choose a better successor.”

“I – I –”

“Here,” Vordenberg continued. He slid a folder across his desk. “To prove your worth. Here is your final task. Complete it, eliminate the target, and let me know you’re worthy.”

Laura evidently didn’t see any point in arguing, so she just took the folder with shaking hands and thanked Vordenberg.

She hurried back up to her room, slamming the door shut behind her and leaning against it, trying to catch her breath and calm her racing heart.

She looked like she was deep in thought. Maybe she thought that if she became leader, then she could somehow find a way to tear the whole damn place apart.

But Vordenberg wasn’t planning on retiring until five years.

She couldn’t last five years.

It was just one last task.

She took a deep breath, staring down at the papers in her hands.

She flipped open the folder to find out just who it was that Vordenberg wanted her to get rid of, and her heart stopped.

“I’m doing this so I don’t get caught,” she said, but it came out strangled.

It wasn’t true anymore. Not after everything.

She’d gone with the rest of Corvae and done their dirty work right along with them, slogging through because she’d convinced herself she didn’t really mean it. She’d convinced herself that her sole purpose in doing them was just so she didn’t get caught being a traitor and get kicked out of her only home.

But it was too late.

Laura had gone and done the jobs anyway and now she had to deal with where that had landed her.

The name at the top of the first page glared back at her, and she couldn’t take her eyes off of it. She couldn’t.

 

**Name of Target:  
Sherman Hollis**

 

…

 

The wait from lunch until evening was one of the longest Carmilla had ever had to suffer through.

Will noticed but Carmilla had stopped telling him what was going on, so he didn’t know why she was so tense.

Honestly, he looked a little miffed, sulking out the doorway of Carmilla’s office after getting no information out of her. She felt a little bad.

“I’m sorry,” she said as he left.

Will halted but didn’t turn around. “It’s okay,” he said, and closed the door behind him.

When the time finally came, Carmilla was out of the office and up in the air in record time.

She couldn’t keep this from Laura anymore.

So many of her questions had been answered, but now she had so many more.

She should just come clean.

Tell Laura who she really was.

By the time she’d gotten to the base of the cliff, she was so pumped full of nerves and adrenaline that flying wasn’t helping her to get rid of any. So she retracted her wings and sprinted up the rest of the slope.

She was going so fast that she couldn’t stop herself in time before smacking right into Laura at the top.

“Whoa!” Laura said, grabbing Carmilla by the shoulders to steady the both of them. “What’s with the hurry?”

Carmilla’s chest heaved as she tried to regain her breath.

“Carm? What’s up?”

Her next words came out all in a rush.

“Laura, I need to tell you something important.”


	8. Chapter 8

Laura blinked.

“Sure,” she said. “You can tell me anything, you know that, right?”

“Yeah,” said Carmilla. She took the picnic blanket from Laura and fluffed it out, dropping it down to the ground and plopping heavily onto it. “Yeah. Yeah. I know.”

Laura sat down cross-legged across from Carmilla, her confusion morphing into concern. “What’s up?”

How was she supposed to word this? Where was she supposed to start?

“I’m not…a normal human.”

Perfect.

Laura laughed a little. “I mean, I figured as much. You _do_ have wings.”

“And you never said anything about it?”

“I called you an angel like twice.”

Carmilla shook her head. “Right. Anyways. That’s um, that’s not magic, though.” Carmilla took off her drawstring bag and dropped it onto the picnic blanket in between her and Laura. “That’s just crazy high-tech gear. But…I’m…immortal. I have an immortal job.”

Laura blinked again. “Wait, what?”

Carmilla ran a hand through her hair in frustration, trying to calm herself down.

She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d worked herself up this badly.

Except for that time she beat up Theo Straka.

But that was related to Laura Hollis too.

Goddammit.

“I’ve been working at my job for three hundred years,” said Carmilla. “I fulfill people’s wishes six days a week.”

“Oh,” said Laura.

“Yeah,” said Carmilla.

This was awkward.

“How does that work?” asked Laura.

“So you know how there’s sometimes shooting stars in the sky, right?”

She didn’t really understand why Laura suddenly tensed. “Yes?”

“Yeah,” said Carmilla. “I, um, I work for an agency. We collect all the wishes everyone in the world makes upon a shooting star. I’m one of the people who go out and fulfill these wishes, within reason, obviously.”

“Oh,” said Laura.

“It’s probably a lot to take in,” said Carmilla.

“I think I can handle it,” said Laura.

“Um…” Carmilla stared down at her bag on the picnic blanket. “…but, um, there’s more. About you.”

“About me?” Laura asked, surprised.

“I –” Carmilla forced herself to look Laura in the eye. She deserved to know this. “You always asked me what I was doing that was stressing me out recently.”

“You always said you were busy with your job,” said Laura, nodding. “…Did you have a lot of wishes to fulfill?”

“Not exactly,” said Carmilla uneasily. “I was – I was looking through your past.”

Laura just froze.

“You what?”

She couldn’t keep the eye contact. Not when Laura looked so shocked. “It’s not like, a wish agent thing. We have the technology…and…I…I figured it out.” Guilt spiked through her, sharper than ever before. She shouldn’t have gone through Laura’s history without her permission. She should have asked and made sure it was okay.

“How much?” Laura asked quietly.

Carmilla rubbed the back of her neck. “Not…not your whole life. Just from when you were sixteen…”

Laura still wasn’t moving and now Carmilla was getting really worried.

“…to?” she asked, her voice almost inaudible.

“I only got to the part where…you know. Vordenberg. Where he asked you to…take over. At Corvae.”

Laura flinched at the name of the apartment. “I’m sorry,” said Carmilla, “I really am. I should have told you sooner but I didn’t. I really do feel terrible.”

Laura didn’t say anything.

“Are you mad at me?” Carmilla tried again.

“Honestly? A little bit,” admitted Laura. “But mostly I’m just surprised.”

“I’m sorry,” Carmilla said again, hoping that somehow if she said it enough times, it would eventually convey how much she meant it.

“It’s…Can you just give me, like, ten minutes?” Laura asked. “You just threw a lot of information at me, and I kind of need to like. Think on this.”

“Y-yeah,” said Carmilla. “Take your time.”

So Laura turned away from Carmilla, who tried not to feel hurt at the gesture, and stared straight ahead at the sunset, eyebrows furrowed. She didn’t move until the whole thing was over.

Carmilla hadn’t realized how much closer they’d gravitated towards each other with each passing day, but now the three-foot gap in between them felt like a massive chasm.

She vaguely wondered how she could watch the sun set every single day for a full month now without getting tired of it.

She liked the way the sky gradually darkened after it had gone through the customary cycle of pink, orange, and then dark red, the way the stars popped out into the sky one by one until the space above them was filled with brilliant, shimmering white dots.

And of course, she realized, she liked watching all of it happen with Laura sitting right next to her, enjoying each other’s company.

“I was going to tell you anyway,” said Laura, breaking the silence.

“What?”

“I was going to tell you,” said Laura again. She turned her head to look over at Carmilla. “I was just working up the courage to spill it all. So I’m not really that angry. And you _did_ just tell me a little bit about yourself too, so we’re even, I guess.”

“Oh,” said Carmilla.

“Just promise me one thing,” said Laura.

“What is it?”

“Please don’t look into my past again without telling me,” said Laura, and she looked pained. “I want you to know things about me when I’m ready to tell you.”

“I won’t do it again,” Carmilla said. “I promise. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said Laura. She shifted a little so that she was partially facing Carmilla again. “…I hope you don’t think badly of me now.”

“Uh,” said Carmilla. “Why would I think badly of you?”

Laura looked down at the picnic blanket. “Because of all the stuff I did.”

“You had no choice.”

“But I did.”

“You never would have done those things on your own. The situation called for it so you did what you had to do.”

Laura sighed. “That doesn’t make anything excusable.”

“Hey.” Carmilla reached out and tentatively put a hand on Laura’s upper arm. She felt relieved when Laura didn’t try to shrug it off. “It’s okay. You’re okay. I don’t think badly of you at all. I think you’re amazing for managing to get out of that place at all.”

“Yeah,” said Laura in a tiny voice.

Carmilla didn’t know what to say.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, she said, “Laura?”

“Yes?”

“Am I allowed to ask questions about…you know, your past?”

“Depends.”

“…Did you leave Corvae because Vordenberg wanted you to kill your dad?”

“No,” snapped Laura, and Carmilla was taken aback by the sudden anger. But she deflated just as quickly as it had come. “I didn’t. I didn’t go…He sent me to get rid of him but I never went.”

“What?”

“I didn’t go. I sent some other people who wanted to do it. I don’t even think he was actually supposed to end up dead unless absolutely necessary,” said Laura, sounding oddly detached. “So they went and they got what Vordenberg wanted and they came back and told me he had died.”

“Oh,” said Carmilla. “I’m sorry that happened.”

Laura ignored that. “That’s not why I left. I wouldn’t leave because of that.”

“Then…why _did_ you leave?”

“Because.” She covered her face with her hands for a moment before looking back up at Carmilla. “I wanted to escape for a long time. But that place doesn’t exactly have a nice policy when dealing with deserters. He…he finally screwed up the courage one day and he helped me get out of there.”

Carmilla stared at Laura. “I don’t know who ‘he’ is.”

There was a period of silence where they just both stared at each other. Carmilla didn’t dare look away, not when it seemed like something was ticking away inside of Laura.

Her next words came bursting out of her.

“Do you know what happened to Johnson? Did you ever see that?”

“N-no,” said Carmilla.

“How did you figure out that I used to live in Corvae?”

“With this.” There was a sense of urgency in Laura’s voice, so Carmilla didn’t hesitate in pulling out the time warper from inside her drawstring bag and showing it to Laura. “It’s a device that lets you rewind things in the past and watch them occur in real time.”

“Turn it on,” said Laura, her voice shaking a little. She reached out and pushed it further into Carmilla’s hands with a sort of jittery desperation. “Use it. Right here. Did you ever wonder why I always come to this cliff?”

“I – I didn’t…”

“Please just do it,” said Laura. “Before I regret it. Please.”

Carmilla obeyed and booted up the time warper, acutely aware of Laura watching her every movement. She turned on the warp, setting it up so that it was encompassing the entire cliff, and Laura was only momentarily awed by it before she was back to staring at Carmilla.

“I need a date,” said Carmilla.

“Nov –” Laura cleared her throat. “N-November 25. 2013.”

That was roughly seven months ago. Carmilla punched the numbers in, then looked up at Laura when the blinking light turned green.

“Are you sure about this?”

Laura nodded, slightly frantically. “Yes. I’m sure. You should know about this. Yes. Do it.”

The faint blue of the warp washed over her skin, making it glow slightly in the night air. Carmilla turned back to the time warper and started it.

Their surroundings brightened to late afternoon and Laura jumped. Carmilla stood up and Laura instinctively moved closer to her.

“This is cool,” said Laura. “Very cool.”

She turned around and gasped.

“Oh my god,” she whispered.

Carmilla turned as well and came face to face with past-Laura and Johnson making their way up the cliff. They both had bulky backpacks on and Johnson was carrying another sack of items as well.

Laura had gone completely rigid beside Carmilla, unable to take her eyes off of Johnson.

Carmilla took one glance at her. Then she took Laura’s hand in her own.

“Thank you,” said Laura, but she was still just as tense as before. “Thank you.”

“Hey,” said Carmilla, tugging Laura closer. “I’m here. It’s okay. Take a deep breath.”

She did.

“It’s him,” said Laura.

“Yeah, it is,” said Carmilla.

Past-Laura and Johnson had reached them by then. Laura squeezed her eyes shut when Johnson nearly passed right through her and Carmilla had to tug her aside and turn her around.

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” said Carmilla.

“No,” said Laura, sounding mildly resolute. “We definitely need to watch this. It’ll be good for me. I think.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I have to watch this. I _have_ to.”

“I believe in you,” was all Carmilla said.

Laura opened her eyes again. “Thank you.”

 

In the warp, Johnson approached the edge of the cliff. “Nice view, isn’t it?” he asked past-Laura with a tired grin on his face.

Past-Laura nodded. Her shoulders were slumped in exhaustion and there were dark bags under her eyes.

“Let’s take a break here,” said Johnson.

“But what if we get caught? We should keep moving farther away,” Laura responded, her eyebrows furrowed.

“We’ll be fine,” Johnson assured her. “C’mon. View’s great. See the horizon over there? Perfect place to watch the sunset. And I know you’re starving since we haven’t gotten a chance to eat since last night.”

“Okay, fine,” said Laura with a sad little smile, and they dropped their bags as they sat down on the ground.

The sun eventually began to set, and Johnson nudged a dozing Laura so that she could see it.

“Wow, it’s…beautiful,” she said in wonder.

“I know it is,” said Johnson. “I used to come up here all the time when I was a little boy. It helped me calm down, you know? All that stress, you can leave it behind, down below. Up here, you’re free, with nothing but the sun and the cliff and the wide open air around you.”

“Yeah,” breathed Laura. “I get it.”

Johnson smiled. “Maybe if you’re ever stressed out in the future, just come back up here. Take a little breather, I promise it’ll help. This’ll be our safe spot. If we ever get separated, you can meet me here, okay? I’ll always be here with you at this spot. Right on top of _our_ cliff.”

“That sounds amazing,” said Laura. She hugged Johnson and Johnson hugged her right back.

The sky began to darken a little, streaked with dark red and the remaining rays of orange from the sunset, and Laura and Johnson both began to doze a little.

A few minutes later, when all traces of color had melted out from the sky, a shuffling sound came from behind them.

“I swear to _fucking god_ ,” swore Carmilla.

Making their way up the cliff in the warp after Johnson and Laura was none other than Theo Straka and three of his goons.

“Carm…you…you’re crushing my hand,” Laura said faintly. Carmilla let go instantly.

“Fuck, I’m sorry – I just…” She let herself trail off, not trusting her voice to stay steady at the moment. She looked over and saw that Laura was trying hard not to let any tears slip.

“Oh my god,” said Carmilla.

Laura reached for Carmilla’s hand again. Carmilla forced herself to relax for Laura’s sake, but it was so, so hard.

 

“Laura. Laura, wake up, wake up,” Johnson said in a harsh whisper. “Don’t move.”

Past-Laura froze. “What’s going on?” she said, instantly alert.

“They’re here.”

“Damn right we are,” said Theo Straka.

Johnson helped pull Laura up to her feet and they huddled close together as Theo and his goons approached.

“Finally found you little fuckers,” said Theo with a mad glint in his eyes. “Oh boy. Maybe we’ll be able to establish ourselves as leaders now if we bring the two of you back to get executed.”

“I won’t let you do that, Straka,” Johnson hissed.

“Let?” Theo asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s cute. I’m here to restore order to our home, Hollis, Johnson. You know, the one you so gracefully threw into chaos?”

“She didn’t do anything wrong,” Johnson said, taking a step forward to protect Laura. “If you want someone to kill, take me. I caused all of this.”

“No!” cried Laura.

“Calm down, big noble hero,” Theo said lazily. “We know the truth. Everyone thinks that you killed Vordenberg, but I saw what happened. I saw you kill him, Hollis.”

“I didn’t,” Laura protested.

“Don’t lie to me,” Theo snarled. He took a step forward and, flanked by the other three, looked menacing enough to make Johnson take an uneasy step back. “I _watched_ you do it. You murdered the poor old man with his own knife and passed the blame off to Johnson.”

“He figured out the day we planned on running,” said Laura, looking stricken. “He came in trying to kill me. Both me and Johnson. We would have died. It was self-defense!”

“It was murder,” said Theo, and Laura winced. “And now I’ll have your head so the rest of damn Corvae can stop fighting to be the new successor.”

“Fuck off, Straka,” Johnson said.

Theo stepped forward and punched him.

It took him and another one of the Corvae guys to match Johnson fist-to-fist. The other two were free to head for Laura.

But Laura hadn’t been chosen to be Corvae’s successor because of nothing.

She had one guy lying crumpled on the ground and was just about to punch the daylights out of the second when she turned her head and saw Theo Straka elbow Johnson square in the neck.

“Get away from him!” she yelled, instantly abandoning the guy who was trying to grab her and tackled Theo instead.

But Theo planted his feet firmly onto the ground. He and Laura scuffled for a second before Theo had forced her to a stop.

“Nice try, Hollis,” he said under his breath. “But it’s going to take more than that to take _me_ down.”

He shoved her so hard, she went crashing straight into Johnson.

Johnson tried to catch her, but he was holding off attacks from the other guys at the same time, not to mention attempting to ignore the burning in his throat.

They’d been backed to the edge of the cliff. And as Laura slammed into his chest, Johnson knew that they both ran a dangerously high risk of going over the edge.

So he pushed Laura, sending her tripping and falling forward. But at least she was on stable ground now.

As for him…

Newton’s third law of motion stated that for every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction.

Laura went forward.

Johnson went backward.

He slipped.

Laura cried out.

His hand found purchase on a lone wedge jutting out the edge of the cliff about five feet down.

Laura crawled to the edge of the cliff, barely able to see through the pain, trembling in horror.

“Johnson!” she shouted.

The man looked up at the sound of his name. He shook his head and smiled wearily, and it was easy to see the toll the strain of holding on was taking on him.

“Keep your head up, Laura,” he said.

“N-no! Don’t do this!” She couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. “No!”

“Eh, who cares about the old man,” Theo said from somewhere behind her. “Get the girl and let’s head out of here.”

Laura reached down, extending her hand as far as she could go but she knew she was nowhere close to getting to where Johnson was.

“Get up, Hollis. Accept your fate.”

Laura turned and swung her leg around, tripping Theo and sending him tumbling to the ground.

The other Corvae goons besides the one who was still on the ground clutching his crotch tried to help him up and Laura dragged Johnson’s backpack, which was closer, to the edge, frantically flipping through its contents.

There had to be something in there. Something to reach Johnson with –

“Please hold on!” Laura cried.

All she could hear was Johnson’s heavy breathing as he struggled to keep a grip on the ledge.

Something slipped out of the backpack and fell to the ground, but Laura ignored it. She needed to find something that could get to Johnson.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Theo tore himself away from the other Corvae guys and surged forward, kicking the backpack off the cliff.

It hit Johnson on the head.

His hand slipped.

He went down.

Laura cried out.

The guy on the ground swiveled his head over at the sound, eyes wild. It was hard to tell if he looked crazed because of the pain Laura had dealt him or because of the realization that, “Boss, you – we – you just killed one of our members.”

“He’s a traitor,” spat Theo. “He’s no Corvae member.”

Laura stood up and punched him as hard as she could.

She heard a crack from somewhere in his nose. Theo yelled in pain and lunged forward, but not before the other two Corvae guys jerked him back, one grabbing onto each arm.

“Boss, dude, give it a rest!” one of them shouted. “You’ve done enough damage already. God! You were supposed to bring them back alive. Now look what you’ve done! Stop already, just tell them you killed the traitors, it has to be enough. Let’s go. Boss, please.”

Theo glared at Laura, a thin line of blood dripping from his nose. He huffed, livid. “Fine, you imbeciles. Let’s go back. But _don’t_ think this is over, Hollis. You’re not ever going to be safe, not while I’m around.”

And just like that, they disappeared back down the cliff, leaving Laura alone at the top.

The backpack was gone, but the thing that had fallen out during the frenzy was still there. Laura reached out with a trembling hand for the rectangular piece of cardstock, lying face down and slightly rumpled on the ground.

It was the photo of her and Johnson hugging. The one they had taken when Laura had first arrived at Corvae, back when they were still full of joy and excitement and love.

She turned and crouched down at the edge, looking utterly lost and broken and defeated.

 

Carmilla stumbled forward and slammed the off button on the time warper. Everything winked out of existence, but the cliff was still the same as it had been, all those months ago.

“Oh my god,” she said, standing immediately back up and rushing towards Laura. “Laura. Oh my god.”

Laura was crying. Carmilla reached her and pulled her into a hug.

“Laura,” said Carmilla, as Laura hugged back tightly, clinging onto her like Carmilla was her lifeline. She cried, the tears soaking Carmilla’s shoulder but Carmilla didn’t care, not in the slightest.

“Laura.”

Carmilla repeated her name, over and over, just standing with Laura, holding her tight while she cried.

“He – he was like a father to me,” Laura said, shaking, her fist pulling at the back of Carmilla’s shirt and bunching it up. “Like a real father. A _real_ father.”

And Carmilla figured she would have felt Laura’s anguish even if she had been a thousand miles away.


	9. Chapter 9

Carmilla wasn’t nearly uncaring enough to let Laura go home by herself. She hadn’t said anything outright, but her expression begged for Carmilla to go back to her apartment with her.

“I’m sorry,” said Laura, dropping heavily onto her couch as soon as they’d stepped foot into her apartment. Carmilla sat down in the couch across from her. “I – I was better about it for a while. I think…just seeing it happen all over again hurt.”

“It’s okay,” said Carmilla.

Laura just shrugged and stared at the carpet.

“Hey,” said Carmilla. “You heard what he told you. Keep your head up.”

Laura looked like she was about to cry again, but a tiny smile appeared on her face and she nodded, looking up and meeting Carmilla’s eyes. “You’re right. You’re right.” She took a deep breath. “Thank you, Carmilla.”

Carmilla slipped off the couch she had been sitting on and moved forward onto Laura’s, plopping down and wrapping her in a hug. She wasn’t usually one to be so touchy, but it just felt right with Laura.

Laura curled herself closer into Carmilla’s embrace.

It was nice.

“Carmilla?” Laura’s voice was tiny. “Are you only here with me because of your job?”

Carmilla’s eyes widened. “What? No way, cupcake.” Okay, that was kind of a lie. Yes, it was true that she’d only met Laura because she’d gotten slapped onto her wish to fulfill, but she was way further in than just an assignment now.  “I’m here because I want to be here.”

Laura didn’t look convinced. “Okay…”

“I’ll tell you that as many times as it takes for you to believe me,” Carmilla said. “I like being here. I like talking to you, so I come down here every single day so I can spend my evenings with you. Got it?”

“Yeah,” breathed Laura. “…Thanks. That means a lot.”

Carmilla considered letting Laura go, but she was holding onto her like a koala hugging a tree. It was cute.

Laura was just cute in general, she realized.

“Hey, Carm?”

“Yeah?”

“I…I don’t regret watching that.”

“You don’t?” asked Carmilla.

Laura rested her head on Carmilla’s chest. Carmilla wondered if she could hear the steady thump-thump of her heartbeat. “No,” she said. “You…you deserve to know what had happened.”

Carmilla didn’t say anything. They hadn’t gotten the chance to eat dinner yet, and her stomach was beginning to feel a little empty as the night wore on. But Laura didn’t look like she wanted to move and Carmilla wasn’t about to make her.

“I’m glad you were willing to share that with me,” she said.

“Me too.” Laura let out a little puff of air and closed her eyes. “I never told anyone before. Didn’t really have anyone to tell it to.”

“Oh,” said Carmilla. “So I’m special, huh?”

She meant it as a joke, but Laura said, “Yeah. You are.”

Carmilla’s stomach flipped.

Then it growled.

“Dammit,” she said.

Laura peeked open one eye, a little teasing smile on her face. “Hungry?”

“…Maybe a little.”

“I thought it was your turn to bring food to our meeting today,” said Laura innocently.

Carmilla huffed. “I was preoccupied with other things.”

Laura pulled away from Carmilla and stood up, rubbing her eyes. “I think I have leftover pasta from yesterday in the fridge. That okay with you?”

“Sure,” said Carmilla, getting up and following Laura into her kitchen.

She leaned back against the kitchen table, her hands resting against the surface as she watched Laura move around and heat up the food.

There was something bothering her.

It’d been bothering her since she first started snooping through Corvae with the time warp.

“Hey, Laura.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s Johnson’s first name?”

Laura thought for a moment, slightly confused. “Guy, I think.”

“Guy Johnson?”

Laura nodded her head up and down once. “Yep.”

“Oh,” said Carmilla.

“Why?”

“I – I’m not sure.”

Guy Johnson. The name was making Carmilla uncomfortable.

“Well, here’s some food,” said Laura, plopping the plate of pasta onto the table.

“Thanks.”

They ate across from each other in silence. The nagging feeling wouldn’t go away.

“That made you uneasy,” said Laura.

“I don’t know why,” Carmilla admitted. “I think I’ve seen or heard it somewhere before.”

“Maybe he wished for something before and you were the one who fulfilled it,” Laura suggested.

Carmilla tensed. “Shit. Maybe.”

“So…you did?”

“It’s definitely possible. I can’t remember,” said Carmilla.

“Um,” said Laura. “How do you not remember the wishes you’ve fulfilled?”

“Cupcake, I go through roughly two to three different wishes every single day. One time on a good day I did five. I can’t remember wishes I fulfilled two weeks ago, let alone an entire year.”

“Oh,” said Laura.

“I’ll see if I did, though,” said Carmilla, a little agitated now. “Tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Laura was starting to pick at her food. Carmilla noticed and scooted her chair over so that she was sitting right next to her.

“Sorry,” said Laura, rubbing at the back of her neck with her free hand. “Don’t really have much of an appetite at the moment.”

Carmilla looked over at her empty plate guiltily. Laura followed her line of sight and then laughed.

“You can have the rest of mine,” she said with a soft smile on her face.

“…I would, but that would probably be incredibly insensitive of me,” said Carmilla.

Laura stabbed her fork onto some pasta and expectantly held it up to Carmilla’s mouth.

Carmilla stared at her.

Laura stared back.

Carmilla sighed and let Laura feed her.

Soon enough, both of their plates were empty. Carmilla got ready to get up and go, but Laura pulled her to a stop by her wrist.

“Can you…do you think you could stay the night?” she asked in a tiny voice.

“Oh.” Carmilla looked down at Laura and her expression that was hopeful and a little desperate at the same time, and she felt warmth spreading through her chest. “Sure, I guess. Since you asked so nicely.”

“Thanks, Carm,” Laura said gratefully.

Carmilla shrugged sheepishly back.

“Better text the brother before he throws a fit when he realizes I’m missing,” said Carmilla as Laura let go of her hold on her wrist. She pulled out her phone and shot off a quick message to Will reading, “staying over at Laura’s tonight, don’t start a riot.”

He sent back four lines worth of just the word “HAHAHAHAHAHA” before Carmilla rolled her eyes and pocketed her phone.

When she glanced back up, Laura was staring wistfully back at her.

“What’s the matter?” Carmilla asked.

Laura shook her head, like she was trying to clear her thoughts. “Nothing. I just…is it nice to have a sibling?”

“I guess,” said Carmilla. “I mean, he gets on my nerves sometimes, but I’m pretty glad to have him around.”

Laura didn’t say anything for a moment. “I think I would like having a brother.”

She looked unsettled and Carmilla didn’t get why.

“Want to head to bed? It’s getting late and you look exhausted,” offered Carmilla.

“Oh! Yeah,” said Laura, standing up and leading Carmilla out of the kitchen. “I only have one bed though…didn’t really think this through, did I?”

“I can sleep on the couch,” said Carmilla.

“No – I couldn’t –”

“It’s okay,” Carmilla reassured her. “I’ll be fine.”

Laura pouted for a moment before dropping onto the couch herself.

Carmilla sat down slowly next to her. “Um…what are you doing?”

“I don’t want to be alone yet,” mumbled Laura, curling herself into Carmilla’s side.

“Oh,” said Carmilla.

After a while, Carmilla thought Laura had fallen asleep against her, but then she spoke. “How does the whole immortality thing work?”

“What?”

“Your job,” Laura clarified, lifting her head slightly to look up at Carmilla. “You said you were immortal. How does that work?”

“To be honest, I’m not really sure,” said Carmilla. “I was recruited when I was eighteen. Mother took me in. It’s not really immortality, per se, more like we’ve just…stopped aging. I mean, obviously it’s much harder for us to get killed but sometimes it still happens, if we’re not careful.”

“So you’re three hundred years old,” said Laura.

“Three-hundred thirty-five. And yes, technically.”

“How old is your brother, then?"

“Will? He got picked up as a twenty-one-year-old, so physically he’s older than me, but he’s only actually ninety-eight.”

“Hm.” Laura put her head back down against Carmilla’s chest. “That’s pretty cool.”

“I guess so,” said Carmilla.

“How did you get the job? Is it like, something you can apply for?”

“Now that, cupcake,” said Carmilla, “is a story for another day.”

Laura pouted. “I’m listening.”

“Barely. You look exhausted.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Is it really?”

“Good point.” Laura shifted a little until she was satisfied with her position lying against Carmilla’s side. “Night, Carm.”

“Aren’t you gonna – you have a – bed…”

Laura was already dozing. Either that, or she was purposefully ignoring Carmilla. The tiny little grin on her face gave away the answer.

Carmilla shook her head in amusement. She found her jacket, the one she’d given to Laura all those days ago, draped over the top of the couch just in reach. She pulled it over, careful not to disturb Laura, and noticed that it now smelled like her.

Carmilla smiled.

What a nerd.

She draped the jacket over Laura and then settled back against the couch. She fell asleep soon enough after that.

 

…

 

“How was the _sleepover_?” Will said in a singsong voice.

“First of all, shut the fuck up,” groaned Carmilla, glaring up at him from her chair in her office. “Second of all, she fell asleep leaning on me, so I fell asleep sitting up. My neck hurts like hell.”

“That’s it? How boring.”

“Don’t you have anyone else worth annoying?”

“Nope.” Will grinned at her. “Well, I guess there’s Mattie, but unlike you, she’d actually do something nasty to me if I kept bothering her.”

“True,” said Carmilla. “So…do you have anything for me? Why are you in my office?”

“Nah, I got nothing. Just wanted to bother you about your _sleepover_ with your _wisher_.”

“Get a life,” said Carmilla, rolling her eyes. “And get out of my office.”

“Yes, sir,” said Will, mock-saluting her and then leaving.

So after the ribbing ended, Carmilla resumed clicking away on her laptop, scrolling through the new list of wishes for the day. Her mind drifted back to the conversation she’d had last night with Laura.

Guy Johnson.

Guy Johnson.

She was just about to click on a wish near the top when the realization hit her like a twenty-ton truck.

“Fuck,” she said.

She grabbed her laptop, vaulted over her desk, and sprinted out the room.

A record short amount of time later, Carmilla burst open the door to Will’s office, where he was sitting cross-legged on top of his desk, looking through some papers.

“Um, welcome back? Did you forget something?” he said, taken aback by Carmilla’s sudden entrance.

“You’re gonna have to tell me how to work this fucked up database,” Carmilla said. “How do I search up all the wishes that one particular person has made in their entire life?”

“Um, that’s not a working function yet,” said Will awkwardly, sliding slowly off his desk into a standing position. “They’re working on it and it should be up soon, but it’s taking a while to program the database so it can distinguish different people with the same name.”

“Great,” said Carmilla. “Then…can I possibly look up every single wish I’ve ever fulfilled?”

Will scoffed, but took Carmilla’s laptop from her hands anyway. “Come on. You’ve never felt the need to search up the past wishes you’ve fulfilled, ever?”

“Never mattered to me until now,” Carmilla muttered.

Will set the laptop down on his desk, kneeling so he was level with the computer screen. Carmilla leaned over his shoulder to watch him as he opened up a bunch of menus and clicked through some pages.

“Why the hell is this thing so complicated?”

“Beats me,” said Will. “Okay, here’s a list of all one hundred eighty-six thousand, five hundred and sixty-three wishes you’ve ever fulfilled since starting this job. Have fun sifting through that. Even better, it only lets you search by date, so…”

“That’s good enough for me,” said Carmilla, who typed “November 25, 2013,” into the search bar.

That was the date of the…incident that Laura had shown her. Surely it would be somewhere around there.

She scrolled upwards, and upwards, and upwards, until she found it.

“Fuck,” she said.

She clicked on the wish.

“Is this supposed to be relevant?” asked Will.

“No, I’m just suddenly feeling queasy over some random wish I fulfilled almost a year ago. Obviously.”

 

Date received: November 8, 2013  
Wisher: Johnson, Guy  
Value: 40 – **Completed by Karnstein, Carmilla on Nov. 09. 13.**

Subject: Please let me somehow find the courage to escape from this blasted place.

 

“Fuck,” said Carmilla.

“You’ve said that word a lot since barging into my office,” Will noted.

“I feel that the situation is appropriate to do so,” said Carmilla.

Will peered closer at the wish. “That one’s really easy to do.”

“I know,” agreed Carmilla. “Thought implanter? Piece of cake. I think that’s why I’ve completely forgotten about it.”

“So, who’s this dude and why’s he freaking you out?”

“I was wondering why I felt so uncomfortable in Corvae,” said Carmilla. “I thought it was just déjà vu, but I actually do recognize that place. I’ve been there before.”

“To fulfill this guy’s wish,” Will said, eyes widening in realization. “That’s the guy who was with Laura Hollis.”

“Indeed,” said Carmilla.

“Oh _shit_ , kitty.”

She was the one who had given Johnson the courage to get out of Corvae, and take Laura along with him. She was the one who had led him to his death atop the cliff.

“I’m just gonna borrow this for a sec,” said Carmilla, reaching over Will’s desk and snatching the time warper from where it was sitting atop a stack of papers.

“Hey! I was just going to go return that –”

“Too bad. I still need it.”

“Tell that to Mattie. You’re already almost three weeks past the original return date.”

Carmilla paused at the doorway to Will’s office, laptop in one hand and time warper in the other. “You tell Mattie to suck it.”

“I don’t want my head on a pike, so no thanks…hey, get back here!”

Carmilla stuck out her tongue and raced out of the room.

 

…

 

She was back at the grocery store.

This time with the clock on the time warper set to November 8, 2013.

She hadn’t gotten that far when she’d been watching it before.

But this time, she started the warp, standing awkwardly outside the grocery store and hoping nobody would question why she was just standing there by herself like an idiot.

It was nighttime in the warp. If Carmilla squinted hard enough, she could see Johnson standing by himself up on the roof of the Corvae apartment complex.

She saw the shooting star flash across the night sky. She saw him close his eyes and take a deep breath.

She fast-forwarded to the next day and camped out in Johnson’s room this time.

Around evening time, when he was chilling at his desk, Carmilla saw something shift right outside his doorway. She crept over and saw…herself. Backed up right against the wall, next to Johnson’s open door.

She was holding the thought implanter in her hand.

Carmilla watched herself hold the device barely into the doorway and hit the button. After a few seconds, Johnson shook his head, a newfound determined look passing over his face.

The Carmilla in the warp checked to make sure the hallway was clear, then took off towards the exit.

Carmilla herself stayed behind. Johnson moved to the closet in his room, pulling it open. He lifted a couple of shirts from the corner to reveal a backpack that was already filled to the brim with things needed for a permanent escape.

“I’m gonna get you out of here, Laura,” he said.

Carmilla turned off the time warper, dropping back down to the ground of the grocery store. There were a lot more shelves and random boxes lying around than in her previous visits.

If she hadn’t…if nobody had fulfilled Johnson’s wish he wouldn’t have died.

Laura wouldn’t be so sad.

It wasn’t even noon yet. But hopefully, Carmilla thought as she sneaked out of the grocery store, Laura would be at her apartment. It was a Saturday, after all. Maybe Laura wouldn’t mind.

 

…

 

“I think I killed Johnson,” Carmilla blurted out as soon as Laura had opened the door to her apartment.

Laura just stared at her, taken completely by surprise. “Uh…hi to you too?”

“Sorry,” said Carmilla. “Hello. I think I killed Johnson.”

“How exactly did you come to this conclusion?” Laura asked, stepping aside so that Carmilla could enter.

“I recognized his name because I fulfilled one of his wishes. I didn’t even remember because it was so easy, but a few days before you guys left…Corvae, he made a wish on a shooting star to somehow get the courage to run away.”

“Oh,” said Laura, leading Carmilla to the couch so that she could sit down. “And that is a bad thing…how?”

“Because then he died,” said Carmilla.

Laura squinted at her. “Um, that wasn’t your fault.”

“If I hadn’t fulfilled his wish he wouldn’t have run away and then fallen off a goddamn cliff.”

“Do you know how much sense you’re making right now?” asked Laura.

“A lot,” huffed Carmilla, falling sideways and sprawling all over the couch.

“Almost none,” Laura corrected her. “You…helped us escape. I can’t even begin to thank you for giving us the opportunity.”

Carmilla stared up at the ceiling of Laura’s apartment and sighed. “Okay, maybe you’re right. I just…I can’t believe I got his wish and now I’m here with you. And I can’t help but think that I somehow had a hand in the reason why you’re so sad.”

“You’re a sillyhead,” said Laura matter-of-factly. She moved to sit down on the floor in front of the couch, leaning forward and resting her head on her arms so that her face was right next to Carmilla’s.

“I’m sorry?” Carmilla offered, turning her head so that she could see Laura properly.

Laura smiled. “If anything, you’ve been helping me become happier, not sadder, so,” she said. Then her cheeks turned pink and she jumped up. “I’m a terrible host. Do you want something to eat or drink?”

“What have you got?”

“Um…” Laura scrambled to the kitchen and Carmilla could hear her pulling open her refrigerator door and searching through it. “Grape soda…and chocolate?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Carmilla, amused.

Laura reappeared in the living room, holding a few candy bars and two cans of grape soda. She tossed one to Carmilla, who caught it without getting up, and then walked over to sit down herself.

“Move your legs,” said Laura.

Carmilla moved her legs and Laura sat down in the newly empty space. Carmilla put her legs back in Laura’s lap.

“So…I know it’s really terrible that Johnson…you know…um, died,” said Laura, ripping open a chocolate bar and breaking off a small piece, “…and I might still be trying to get over that, but I wouldn’t want him to have chickened out and stayed in Corvae with me, even if it meant both of us could still be alive. And…I hope you think that way too.”

Carmilla popped open the top of the grape soda. “I guess,” she said. “…Sorry I just barged in here unannounced. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I kind of had a part in the way you ended up here right now.”

“That is a pretty interesting coincidence,” agreed Laura.

Carmilla tried to take a sip of soda without lifting her head up from the couch. It spilled over her face and some of it went down her throat the wrong way, making her start coughing. Laura looked over at her, at first surprised, then giggling and making absolutely no attempt to help her out.

“Thanks, cupcake,” grumbled Carmilla, wiping away grape soda with the back of her hand.

Laura didn’t answer. Carmilla looked up to see that she was biting her lip, trying to hide her smile. Her eyes shone bright, and it made something inside Carmilla’s chest stir.

“You’re staring,” said Laura.

“What can I say? You’re a pretty sight.”

Laura blushed. “You’re so cheesy,” she said.

“No I’m not,” replied Carmilla, punctuating her statement by poking Laura in the stomach with her big toe. Laura squeaked and tried to push down Carmilla’s foot.

“Help!” Laura cried, laughing as Carmilla continued her attempts to tickle her.

She had to throw two pieces of chocolate at Carmilla before she calmed down.

“I’m hungry,” Carmilla announced.

“When are you not?” Laura asked.

“You be quiet,” said Carmilla, grinning and getting up from the couch. She stretched a bit before continuing. “I'm gonna go get lunch. Want to come with?”

“Me?” Laura asked, surprised.

“No, I was talking to the couch.”

Laura made a face that was mostly just her trying her hardest not to smile. “Okay, yeesh, I’m just checking. I’d love to. Where are we going?”

“Dunno,” said Carmilla. “I’ll figure that out later. C’mon.”

With a little bit more egging from Carmilla, Laura finally got up, grinning bashfully, and followed her to the door. Carmilla opened it up and made an exaggerated grand gesture for Laura to exit. Laura made a face at her.

"You know I'm the one who can lock it, right?"

"Killjoy," said Carmilla.

Laura stuck out her tongue as Carmilla shut the door behind her. She quickly locked it and followed Carmilla down the hallway, then down the three flights of stairs. Soon enough they had exited the apartment complex, the sun shining bright overhead.

“Hey, Laura?” Carmilla asked.

“Yeah?”

“I was just wondering…why did you go to the cliff so often, especially back then?”

Laura shrugged a little. “I think it was just me thinking that if I showed up, he’d meet me there. And then once I started going I couldn’t stop. It felt like…I was forgetting about him if I didn’t.”

“But doesn’t it hurt?” asked Carmilla.

“Yeah, it sometimes does,” Laura admitted. “I did lose someone very important to me there. But I also met someone. So I think that makes the trip worth it.”


	10. Chapter 10

Carmilla ended up taking Laura to some random burger fast food restaurant for lunch.

“Why?” asked Laura, standing right outside the entrance and looking up at the neon sign hanging overhead.

“Because I’m craving some junk,” said Carmilla.

“Do you even need to eat, being immortal and all?” Laura joked.

“First of all,” said Carmilla, “I’m not immortal, my body’s just permanently eighteen, which means I still need to feed it the normal human amount of food every day. Second of all, you’ve literally watched me eat dinner every single day for the past month and you’re asking if I need to eat or not.”

“Good point,” said Laura. She opened the door so that they could both go in.

They waited in line for a couple of minutes before ordering a burger each and a big side of fries to share in between them. Laura insisted on carrying all the food as they walked towards a table. Carmilla felt like arguing with Laura would be useless, so she just let her do what she wanted and fed her a French fry since Laura’s hands were full.

“Hey, why don’t we eat outside?” Carmilla asked when they approached the entrance.

“Outside? Are there seats outside?”

“Yeah,” said Carmilla. “It’s nice out. Let’s get a table in the sun.”

So they went outside and got a table to themselves. Carmilla sat down across from Laura, who dropped her burger in front of her.

Carmilla knew that on normal days, Laura could eat a _lot_ , but still, she found watching Laura stuff her face hilarious every single time. Laura had already finished half her burger before she realized that Carmilla, who had a French fry in between her teeth, was watching her and valiantly trying not to laugh. Laura froze mid-chew, very closely resembling a terrified chipmunk. Carmilla really lost it then.

“Shut up,” Laura said after she’d swallowed her bite, picking up a French fry and throwing it at Carmilla’s face. Carmilla just kept laughing.

“That…was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Carmilla managed to get out.

Laura blushed and threw another French fry to try and cover it up. “You be quiet! I was hungry.”

“I know. Doesn’t make it any less funny.” Carmilla wiped at her eyes, finally calming down. She looked down to see that their table was now littered with several fries. “Now look what you’ve done. You wasted all our food.”

“You weren’t shutting up, so I took the necessary safety measures!” Laura protested.

Carmilla grinned. “Whatever you say.”

Laura picked off the rest of the fries while she waited for Carmilla to finish her own burger. When they were done, Carmilla went and threw their trash away, but Laura seemed content to stay in her seat and relax for a while.

“This is a really nice change of pace,” said Laura. “I haven’t…I haven’t really had someone to laugh with for a long time. Not since…Corvae.”

“Oh,” said Carmilla, instantly sobering up. “…I know it was pretty harsh in there, but…did you ever have any fun, maybe?”

“Yeah, I think I did a couple times,” said Laura. “Some people were really nice to me. I think most of the people who lived in Corvae were there for the same reasons as me. We were all from really terrible backgrounds or rough places. And we all just wanted a place we could call home, and a bunch of other people we could call a family.”

“I can’t believe Vordenberg would make you guys do those things, though,” said Carmilla, frowning.

Laura frowned too. “I can’t either. Sometimes I still don’t get it. I think he used to do a lot of shady things and made a lot of enemies. There were a _crazy_ number of people who were out to get him. I think people did get him, too. He was always trying to get his precious stuff back or hurt people for hurting him, like revenge.”

“So he made a bunch of kids do all the dirty work?” Carmilla asked in disgust.

“I guess,” said Laura, shrugging uncomfortably. “Look, Vordenberg knew what he was doing. He invited a bunch of people who were dying for a place to feel accepted in and gave us a place to stay. It made us feel obligated to help him with his own problems. I know it made some people treat him like he was the second coming of Christ or something.” Laura’s tone was bitter and it made Carmilla think of Theo Straka.

“How come Johnson would bring you to a place like that?”

“I don’t think he knew,” Laura said wearily. “He talked about it like it was the best place in the world, and I wasn’t about to turn an offer like that down. Vordenberg may have been a terrible person, but he was smart. He made sure to let us in slowly, once we were comfortable. So that we’d feel bad for, you know, not returning his generosity. I know it took me a long time to convince myself he was the one in the wrong, not me.”

Carmilla got up from her seat and sat down on the table in front of Laura. “I think that’s amazing,” said Carmilla. “I don’t know how much that matters to you, but you are so strong and incredible for getting through everything that you have.”

“Thanks, Carm,” said Laura. “It does mean a lot.”

Laura was looking at her with an expression of something like adoration or admiration and Carmilla felt her heartbeat pick up a little.

 Stupid eighteen-year-old body. She had the mind of someone who was centuries old, but her annoying hormones sometimes still acted up. She shouldn’t be reacting this way.

She didn’t want to react this way.

“You done, cupcake? Because if you are, we could totally waste the rest of the day hanging out together.”

“Oh, yeah, sure!” Laura brightened and jumped up from her seat, nearly bumping headfirst into Carmilla. “Sorry. Where are we going?”

“Let’s just walk,” said Carmilla.

So they did, walking down the sidewalk side-by-side, shoulders brushing occasionally. Carmilla took Laura to a big outdoor mall, initially planning on just strolling around outside and enjoying the scenery.

“Can we go in all of the stores?” Laura asked, a hint of her childish eagerness shining through.

“Uh, sure, I guess,” Carmilla had barely finished saying before Laura had grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

They avoided the clothing stores, which Carmilla thanked the gods for, but Laura insisted on going into almost literally everything else. So Carmilla let Laura drag her into three separate snack shops, where Laura ended up with a giant lollipop, a cup of frozen yogurt, and two donuts. She followed Laura into the tiny farmer’s market tucked into the corner of the mall, fooling around in the fruit section and trying to undo the mess that Laura was making before a worker came and kicked them out.

“This is all your fault,” Carmilla said as they exited.

“I know,” said Laura with a cheeky smile, and it was so big and full of happiness Carmilla couldn’t even begin to imagine getting annoyed. She’d just finished her lollipop and donuts, but the remaining frozen yogurt left in her cup was rapidly melting in the afternoon heat.

“You better finish that fast,” said Carmilla. “That looks disgusting. Like sludge.”

“Like poop,” Laura agreed, because she’d gotten chocolate frozen yogurt.

Laura even went into the fancy restaurants and Carmilla had to yank her out before the guy working at the front could welcome them and ask if they wanted a table for two.

“Are you always this crazy?” asked Carmilla.

“No,” said Laura. “Think I had too much sugar.”

“Wow. Really?”

“Stop being mean to me,” said Laura, but she was smiling.

It was so ridiculous, but Carmilla couldn’t even deny that she was having fun anymore. There was a Goodwill in the mall, so they took a detour in there.

“Look,” said Laura, pointing to an armchair in the middle of the store. “It costs twenty dollars. We could totally buy that.”

“That is the ugliest shade of blue I have ever seen,” Carmilla said.

“It’s not _that_ bad,” Laura reasoned. “Like, it’s pretty similar to baby blue.”

“Similar to baby blue that’s been vomited on by a baby.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Laura moved on to the next section. Carmilla watched her for a moment, amused, and then trailed after her.

 

…

 

“Oh my god, look! They’re selling all the clothes on this rack for only thirty dollars! That’s insane, look at all of this, I could double my entire wardrobe!”

“Laura, _no_.”

 

…

 

Carmilla didn’t even realize how late it had gotten, strolling down some random street far away after leaving the outdoor mall. It wasn’t until the sky began to darken when Laura began to grow concerned.

“We’re going to miss the sunset,” she said, hanging her head in sorrow.

“Hey, we don’t have to watch it from the same place every day,” suggested Carmilla. “How about we find somewhere new tonight?”

“It’s not the same,” said Laura dejectedly.

Carmilla knew what she meant. But she’d just had an awesome afternoon and didn’t want to let the rest of Laura’s day go to pieces. “Then let’s make it even better than usual. C’mon. If you just stand here you won’t be able to see the sunset at all. Let’s go find somewhere to watch it from.”

“Okay.” Laura lifted her head and apparently something in the distance caught her eye, because she squinted and said, “Carm, do you see that? Over there.”

Carmilla looked ahead too and saw what had gotten Laura’s attention: a bunch of flashing lights, and a Ferris wheel.

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes,” said Laura. “It’s a carnival! Like those ones that they set up in a big parking lot or something and only stay for a week or two. Can we please go? I used to go to those all the time when I was little –”

She stopped talking abruptly and Carmilla instantly turned her head to look at Laura, who had an expression of confusion on her face. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” said Laura shakily. “I don’t – I don’t know…”

Carmilla frowned and stepped closer to Laura. “What’s the matter?”

“I can’t remember…” Laura rubbed at her forehead. “I don’t understand. I just had this like sudden feeling that I was on the verge of thinking about something important, and now it’s fading away and I don’t know why or what just happened.”

“Do you think you’ll be okay? Do you still want to go to the carnival?”

“Yes,” Laura decided after a beat. “Yes, I really, _really_ want to go.”

“Then let’s go, then,” said Carmilla. “C’mon. Maybe it’ll help you take your mind off things.”

Laura reached for her hand and Carmilla almost didn’t notice when she laced their fingers together, save for the tiny quickening of her heartbeat that she refused to acknowledge.

They made it to the carnival and Carmilla was hit with the smell of cotton candy, pizza, hot dogs, and surrounded by the noise of happy music coming from all the different rides and game stands. Laura stopped to take it all in, her eyes wide in wonder. Carmilla figured she would be down to see Laura this happy more often.

“We have to move, cupcake, if we want to see the sun set. It’s getting dark.”

“Right.” Laura scanned the grounds. There were actually a lot of people there, being a Saturday evening and all. “Over there!” She pointed to a three-story building lined with flashing lights and sporting a giant sign on the front that read _House of Mirrors_.

“What about it?” asked Carmilla, even as Laura was pulling her along through the crowd towards it.

“I think the prize for getting through whatever’s in that house is you get to go see the view on the roof,” Laura said excitedly. “Look at all those people emerging on the rooftop! Let’s go.”

They reached the operator, who smiled at them as they approached. “Two people?” he said to them.

“Uh – yeah. Hey, how does this thing work?” Carmilla asked while digging through her pockets for her spare change.

“The House of Mirrors is a maze,” the operator explained. “Which sounds simple, but there’s a twist. Instead of opaque walls the obstacles are made of mirrors and glass panes, so it’s extra difficult to find your way to the top. See if you can make it! The price is only three dollars per person.”

Carmilla handed over six dollars and Laura protested. “Wait – I was gonna pay for myself –”

“There’s not enough time. Pay me back later,” said Carmilla, and she entered the maze, still holding hands with Laura.

“Holy shit!” Laura laughed as soon as they had stepped inside. “This place is crazy!”

“How fast do you think we could do this?” Carmilla asked her, rounding a bend and coming face to face with three mirror images of herself.

“Not fast enough,” said Laura. “Oh my god! Carm!”

“I know,” said Carmilla, and great. Now she couldn’t stop smiling. Not while she was running around in a stupid, actually very complicated maze built of mirrors, never letting go of Laura’s hand, racing against the clock to make it to the top so that they could actually watch the sun set.

“Wait, Carm! I think that’s the staircase.”

They went up to the next floor.

“There’s more than one level?” Laura whined.

“Do you want to watch the sun set or not?” Carmilla asked.

Laura smiled, and it was so bright and happy and _carefree_ that Carmilla felt…something. Before she could stop and think about how her body was reacting, she was rushing ahead again.

She had to pull Laura back twice by their joined hands to keep her from smacking into a glass panel and both times Laura started giggling. Carmilla figured she should be mad at how useless she was being, just standing there laughing at the distorted images of herself in the mirrors.

“Sun’s gonna set with or without you,” Carmilla reminded her.

“Right! Right,” Laura said, picking a path at random and moving towards it.

Somehow, they made it to the top. They burst from the staircase and Carmilla felt the blast of the cool breeze as they emerged into the open again. Laura instantly let go of Carmilla’s hand and sprinted to the railing on the edge. “We made it!” she said. “The view is great up here! We made it in time!”

“Just barely,” Carmilla commented as she caught up.

“But we still made it,” said Laura, sounding relieved.

They must have finished the maze in record time or something, because the operator down below was whooping and applauding them. Laura smiled and waved down at him before turning her attention back to the sun, which was already extremely close to the horizon.

“So finding a new place was worth it, huh?” said Carmilla, leaning on the railing and bumping Laura’s shoulder playfully with her own.

“Yeah,” breathed Laura. “It was.”

As the sun went down, lights all around the carnival started popping up. By the time it was completely under the horizon, the place was illuminated with multicolored dots and flashing streaks.

Laura sighed and stepped back from the edge of the House of Mirrors. “That was…that was awesome.” Then, without warning, she hugged Carmilla. “Thanks, Carm.”

“Oh,” said Carmilla, lifting her head slightly so Laura could fit hers snugly under Carmilla’s chin. “Yeah. It’s nothing.”

They stayed atop the roof for a few minutes more before deciding to head down, mostly because all the snacks Laura had eaten during the afternoon were wearing off and she was starting to get hungry again.

“I don’t know if I want pizza or a hot dog,” Laura said as they strolled through the stands.

“Then get both,” said Carmilla.

“Hm. Good idea.”

So they each bought a large slice of pizza and a hot dog to share between them. Laura insisted on paying since Carmilla had paid both of them entry into the House of Mirrors earlier.

Laura was done with her pizza when they walked past a cotton candy stand.

“Laura, no,” said Carmilla.

“Please?” Laura asked.

Carmilla sighed. “Fine. But you have to finish your half of the hot dog first.”

“Deal.” Laura handed the hot dog to Carmilla and rushed right up to the stand.

Carmilla caught up to her just in time to hear her ask what size she should get. “Small,” said Carmilla.

“I wanted a large,” said Laura.

“I’m worried that you’ll explode if you eat that much more sugar,” said Carmilla.

“How about a medium?”

“If you get a small, you’ll have enough room for other snacks.”

“…Ugh, fine, I’ll buy a small.”

Carmilla had to finish the rest of the hot dog, because she ended up caving and buying Laura funnel cake, a caramel apple, and ice cream as well.

“How do you fit it all into that tiny body of yours?” Carmilla asked as they walked.

“Dunno,” said Laura happily. She scooped up another spoon of ice cream and held it up to Carmilla’s mouth. “Want some?”

Carmilla accepted the bite of ice cream from Laura.

The night was warm and a little humid, but the breeze blowing through the carnival kept it bearable. It was truly dark now, and the colorful lights outlining each ride and stand were really out in full force. “Look at all these games,” Carmilla said to Laura. “Some of the prizes are huge. Like, look at those teddy bears over there.”

She pointed to a stand with its back wall completely stacked with enormous teddy bears in every single color of the rainbow and more. Laura looked over, grinning, and then froze.

“Laura. Laura?” She was doing it again. The confused expression, the hopelessness in her eyes.

“I –” said Laura. “Something’s…something doesn’t feel right.”

“Are you okay?” Carmilla asked. She reached out a hand and put it on Laura’s back.

“Yeah, I’m…fine. I just…seeing the colorful teddy bear…something…I don’t know.” She stabbed the ice cream with her spoon in frustration. “Nevermind. It’s nothing. Let’s keep going.”

Carmilla was concerned for Laura, but she seemed determine to pretend like nothing had just happened, so Carmilla followed her as she kept going.

“What stuffed animals _do_ you like?” Carmilla asked.

Laura thought for a second. “Monkeys.”

“Monkeys? Like, those monkeys?” Carmilla directed Laura’s attention to a ring toss stand. One of the prizes was a big stuffed animal monkey, just hanging from the bar at the top.

“Oh, that’s cute,” Laura admitted shyly. “But I’m terrible at these games. I would just waste a ton of money.”

“Do you want to have a go?” Carmilla asked.

Laura shook her head. “I’m good.”

But she clearly wasn’t, because Carmilla caught her stealing glances back at the monkey for several minutes afterwards.

“C’mon.” Carmilla took Laura’s hand and led her to the stand.

“Carm, what are you doing?”

“Winning you that monkey,” said Carmilla.

The price was ten rings for three bucks. The operator explained that they would need to get four rings onto a bottle in order to win the monkey.

Carmilla bought a set of rings and Laura watched on with a mixture of worry and admiration. Carmilla had to look away because she felt herself warming up looking at Laura’s expression and she needed to concentrate.

She picked up the first ring and scanned the array of bottles in front of her nervously.

Holy shit.

Since when did Carmilla feel _nervous_?

Why was she feeling that way? Carmilla couldn’t even remember the last time she’d felt nervous, she’d lost all her fucks to give as the centuries passed. Yet here she was, standing in front of a goddamn ring toss, trying to win Laura a stupid giant monkey and feeling _nervous_.

Carmilla decided that it would be better for her sanity to not think about just exactly what she was nervous _about_.

“This is harder than it looks,” said Laura.

Carmilla threw the ring. It missed.

“Thanks a lot,” said Carmilla.

Laura blushed. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to. This game is super easy!”

If she hadn’t been so focused on aiming her next ring, Carmilla would have noticed the operator was giving them a sappy look.

She missed two more times, and then actually scored once. Laura cheered when the ring settled around the rim of the bottle and Carmilla felt stupidly proud of herself.

“See? This isn’t so bad,” Carmilla told Laura, squaring up for her next toss.

She blew through the remaining rings without any success until she only had one left. “Do you want to try?” she asked.

“Oh, no,” said Laura, who was finishing up the rest of her ice cream. “My aim is terrible.”

So Carmilla threw the ring. And made it again.

Laura cheered again.

“Still need two more for the monkey,” said Carmilla.

“You don’t have to…” Laura started to say, but Carmilla had already bought another set.

She missed five times in a row.

“I hate everything.”

“Except me,” said Laura.

“Obviously, or I wouldn’t be playing this damn game,” said Carmilla, and threw a ring. It glanced off a bottle. “Goddammit!”

She scored once after that, and soon once again was left with a single ring. She turned to Laura with a grin, spinning the ring around her index finger.

“Don’t miss,” said Laura.

“I’ll try not to,” said Carmilla. She turned and tossed the ring.

It landed snugly onto a bottle.

Laura tackled Carmilla into a hug. Carmilla, laughing, told the operator that they wanted the big monkey. The operator pulled it down and handed it to Carmilla, who wrapped the monkey’s arms around Laura’s neck. Laura was laughing and still trying to hug Carmilla, only now they had a big stuffed monkey in between them and she looked so happy.

It was totally worth it.

“Thank you,” Laura said, her eyes shining.

“You’re very welcome, cutie,” said Carmilla, tapping Laura lightly on the nose with her finger. Laura scrunched up her face, then laughed.

She spent the rest of the evening with that monkey hugged around her.

 

…

 

Carmilla walked Laura back to her apartment. It was really late into the night by the time they got back. Laura opened her apartment door and turned back around to face Carmilla, leaning against the frame.

“That was a very unexpected adventure,” said Laura. “But I had a lot of fun. Thanks for everything, Carmilla.”

“I had a blast too,” said Carmilla. “Now get some sleep. And take care.”

“Good night!” Laura waved at her using one of the hands of the stuffed monkey. Carmilla smiled because Laura was being too cute.

Laura closed the door and Carmilla left. As she walked down the stairs alone, Carmilla realized that she hadn’t felt this light ever in her more than three hundred years of living.


	11. Chapter 11

Two weeks later, Carmilla showed up at Laura’s apartment at four-thirty in the afternoon.

It had kind of become a habit as time passed on. Instead of going to the cliff and meeting Laura there, Carmilla just went to Laura’s apartment a little bit earlier. Now that it was approaching midsummer and the sun didn’t set until late at night, they could chat and eat dinner at Laura’s, then head to the cliff together.

At this point, there were probably a million better places they could pick to watch the sunset, but Carmilla had actually taken a liking to that stupid sheer slab of rock. She felt oddly liberated and free of stress there, and Laura told her that she’d gotten attached to their little spot atop the cliff. So they kept going. And the casual round trip walk in the cool night air was nice, too.

“Hello,” said Laura when she opened the door and stepped back to let Carmilla enter.

“Hey,” said Carmilla. “What are you up to?”

“I just got back from work literally thirty seconds ago,” said Laura, “so, nothing.”

“Cool,” said Carmilla.

Laura grinned at her stupidly, walking backwards into the kitchen so she could keep her eyes on Carmilla. “You’re early. Want any snacks to eat?”

“Do you still have grape soda left?”

“Yup.”

Ten seconds later, a can of soda came flying into the living room, and if Carmilla hadn’t been staring at the spot where Laura had disappeared into the kitchen, she wouldn’t have seen it coming.

“Pretty good, right?” said Laura brightly as she reemerged.

Carmilla assumed she was talking about her aim and answered, “You almost smacked me in the face, so no.”

Laura pouted and moved towards the couch, picking up the stuffed monkey from its perch on the armrest and plopping down with it hugged in her arms. Carmilla sat down next to her, eyeing what Laura was wearing with a smirk.

“What?” she asked.

“Stop wearing my jacket. It’s summer,” said Carmilla.

“No,” said Laura, wrapping the jacket tighter around herself. “Also, we’re ordering pizza tonight.”

“Gross.”

“Shut up, you butt face.”

Carmilla stuck out her tongue playfully. Laura pushed her to the other end of the couch and then lay down in her lap, looking up at Carmilla’s face.

“Hey,” said Carmilla, grinning.

“Hi,” said Laura, blowing out a puff of air and sighing contentedly. “I’m tired, I think I’m going to take a nap. Wake me when it’s time for dinner.”

“You’re gonna – on my lap – okay.”

 

…

 

Laura looked so cute in her sleep that Carmilla accidentally forgot to wake Laura up until around six-thirty. After scolding Carmilla, to which she responded with a huff and a grin, Laura just ordered the pizza and the two ate it on the walk to the cliff. By the time they had reached the base, the pizza was gone.

“I will never fail to be amazed at the alarming amount of food you can fit into your small body,” said Carmilla as she threw the box away.

“Food is good,” Laura replied happily.

“How come you’re still so tiny then?” Carmilla teased her.

“Shut up! You’re like, three hundred years older than me and only an inch taller.”

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. “By your logic that means I should be several hundred feet tall.”

“Exactly! So who’s the short one now?”

“Okay,” said Carmilla, giving Laura a light shove forward. “Up the path you go.”

It was around seven-thirty by the time they arrived at their spot atop the cliff. Laura fluffed out the yellow duck-printed picnic blanket and laid it onto the ground. Carmilla watched her from the side, amused.

“We should really consider cleaning that thing,” she commented as Laura dropped onto the blanket.

“Yeah, we should,” Laura agreed. “Like, here is a stain from that time you tripped and spilled sauce all over the place.”

“You pushed me,” Carmilla protested. Laura laughed and pulled her down by the hand to sit next to her.

“Well, would you rather sit on a stain-filled but very cute picnic blanket or the dirty, dusty ground?”

“The ground. No doubt,” said Carmilla immediately.

“Then get off my picnic blanket,” said Laura.

Carmilla grinned. “Not till you put it through the wash.”

“Shut up,” Laura huffed.

They sat in silence for a while until the sun began to set. Even though by now Carmilla had seen it so many times, it still looked beautiful and breathtaking every single day. Laura scooted closer to her and Carmilla rested her head on Laura’s shoulder.

It was nice. And when Laura wrapped her arm around Carmilla’s waist, she felt something flutter in her chest.

“Carmilla,” said Laura after a while.

“Yeah?”

“Can I tell you something?”

“Sure,” said Carmilla, lifting her head and moving back, turning around to face Laura. “What’s up?”

“I’ve been thinking for the past couple of days,” said Laura, rubbing the back of her neck uncomfortably. “I think there’s something wrong with me.”

Carmilla blinked. “You’re going to have to elaborate for me here.”

“Like –” said Laura, and she sounded frustrated, “– like it feels like I’m missing a huge chunk of my memory.”

“Oh,” said Carmilla, frowning. “That’s…odd.”

“Yeah,” said Laura. “I…um, I keep trying to remember what happened during my childhood, but the harder I try, the farther away it gets from me.”

“Did something happen?” asked Carmilla.

“Like, that would cause me to lose my memory? No,” said Laura. “At least, I don’t think so. I never bonked my head or anything…”

“Is this a recent development or have you had this problem for a long time?”

“That’s the weird part,” said Laura. “This is going to sound stupid, but I remember remembering my childhood while I was in Corvae and before. Crazy, right? Like I know I thought about it a lot. But now I can’t even remember what happened.”

“So…you remembered your childhood before you left Corvae,” said Carmilla, “and forgot it after you left?”

“Sounds about right.”

“That’s kind of weird.”

“More like really weird,” sniffed Laura. “It really annoys me. I feel like something important happened when I was little but now I don’t even know what it was.”

“Well, there are ways to find out,” said Carmilla. “We could use the time warper?”

Laura brightened a little. “Really? Are you allowed to do that?”

“I mean, why not?” said Carmilla. “I don’t have it with me right now, though. I’d have to get it from the office tomorrow.”

“That’s okay,” said Laura. “Thank you, Carm.”

“Anytime.” Carmilla smiled at Laura, and Laura smiled back, tentatively.

“There’s one problem.”

“Yeah?”

“How am I supposed to tell you where to use it if I don’t know where it happened?”

“Oh,” said Carmilla. “Try baby steps. What is the most recent thing you remember?”

Laura thought for a moment. “When – when I ran away from home. I was fourteen, Johnson found me when I was fifteen.”

“Do you remember where you ran away to?”

“Well, I kind of moved around everywhere, so,” said Laura, wracking her brain. “Oh, wait. I think I know where I hung out the most. I guess we could visit that place first.”

“Okay.” Carmilla’s chest felt heavy. She’d known before that Laura had been pulled out of a bad situation and into Corvae, but this was the first time Laura had admitted to having run away from her home. Laura didn’t look like she wanted to go into deeper detail, though, so Carmilla decided not to comment on it.

“We should probably go back,” said Laura. “It’s getting late.”

“Yeah,” said Carmilla. She got up and dusted the back of her pants off with one hand, extending the other out towards Laura. With a tiny smile, Laura took Carmilla’s hand and pulled herself up. “Good talk, cupcake. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

 

…

 

Carmilla went into work late the next day. She had planned to meet up with Laura at noon, and had popped into the agency at eleven-thirty just to get the time warper from her office.

When she entered, however, Will was waiting for her, visibly stiff.

“What are you doing?” he said.

Carmilla stopped short, staring at Will, bewildered. “Uh, who shit in your cornflakes today?”

“I asked you a question first,” said Will. He took a step forward. “I haven’t seen you in weeks. You keep running off halfway through work, you’re cutting your hours short. By a _lot_. And I looked at your records and you haven’t completed a single wish in eleven days.”

“…Okay?” said Carmilla.

Will sighed. “What are you doing?” he asked again.

“I’m – nothing,” said Carmilla. “Nothing that should concern you, anyway. I’m just here to get the time warper.”

“Are you ever going to actually return it?” Will said, irritated.

“Why? I still need it.”

“Okay, but maybe you should think about other people instead of just yourself,” said Will. “Mattie has been up my ass about it ever since you passed the deadline and I’m getting sick of having to deal with your problems only for you to brush me off when it comes to yours.”

“I don’t need you to helicopter me?” said Carmilla, still slightly confused. “Like, sorry you’re being slightly inconvenienced but I’ve got places to be…so I’m just going to go.”

Will opened his mouth to argue, but Carmilla grabbed the time warper, turned around and left, leaving him standing alone in her empty office.

 

…

 

“Where are we headed?” asked Carmilla as Laura stepped out of the apartment complex and onto the sidewalk.

“I think we should probably take a taxi,” said Laura. “It’s kind of far away.”

 So they called one over and got in. Laura told the driver to go to some random street Carmilla didn't recognize, then she settled back, sitting next to Carmilla.

“So where exactly is this place you went to a lot?” asked Carmilla.

“It’s a street,” said Laura. “There’s a really tiny alleyway that I used to hide in.”

“Oh, okay,” said Carmilla.

“Why?”

“I’m just checking,” said Carmilla. “Because if it was out in the open it would be a real pain in the ass to keep people out of the warp.”

“Oh.”

Laura fell silent, and Carmilla watched her, frowning. “Laura?”

“Yes?”

“Why did you run away?”

“I don’t know,” said Laura, and her expression turned a little sour. “I don’t remember.”

“We’ll find out together,” Carmilla told her.

Laura turned her head to look at Carmilla and smiled faintly. “Okay,” she said.

She went back to staring out the window. Carmilla watched her for a while and noticed her shoulders were tense. So she reached out and took Laura’s hand in her own. Laura looked over, momentarily surprised, before she intertwined her fingers with Carmilla’s, giving her a tiny smile.

They continued to hold hands the entire ride there.

Laura told the driver to drop them off on the side of a road. He parked, and after paying, Carmilla followed Laura off the taxi and stepped out onto the street.

“I think this is it,” said Laura. “Um, I’m not really sure if it’s still here. A lot of these buildings are different.”

“That’s okay, just go find where you think it is.”

Laura wrapped her fingers around Carmilla’s wrist and pulled her forward. They passed by several musty store fronts before Laura finally halted in between a small break between two building walls.

“It’s still here,” she said, sounding mildly surprised.

“You lived in _there_?” Carmilla asked, incredulous. The alleyway was _tiny_ , barely enough space for her to be able to stretch her arms out on either side. “That’s…that’s horrible.”

“I stayed here because there’s a little bend in the back,” said Laura, leading Carmilla uncertainly into the opening. “No one went in there so I never got bothered.”

Carmilla’s heart broke a little more for Laura with each step they took. Then Laura showed her the tiny cramped space off to the side where she used to sleep sometimes.

“Laura,” breathed Carmilla.

Laura laughed weakly. “Well, here it is. My old home.”

Carmilla twisted her wrist a little so that Laura’s grip loosened. Then she slipped her hand down so she could hold Laura’s hand instead. “Do you want to…use the time warper?”

“We’re here already,” said Laura. “I guess we might as well.”

So Carmilla took the time warper out of her pocket and turned it on. “Give me a date.”

“Um,” said Laura. “Try sometime mid-June 2009. I think.”

“Okay. June fifteenth it is.” Carmilla punched in the numbers, then looked up at Laura to give her one last chance to back out. She nodded and Carmilla turned back to the warp, switching it on.

Fourteen-year-old Laura appeared on the ground in front of them, sitting on a pile of blankets and curled up in a little ball.

“That’s me,” said Laura in a tiny voice.

“Oh,” Carmilla managed to say.

“Can I…?” asked Laura, making a vague hand gesture at the time warper in Carmilla’s hand.

Carmilla blinked, then handed it over. “Yeah, sure. Just – this is how you fast forward or slow it down. And this button turns it off.”

Laura flipped through the days a lot faster than Carmilla would have, sometimes skipping entire weeks at a time. “I mean, nothing really interesting happens,” Laura explained uneasily. “I just lived off of whatever I could find. Oh, look.”

She had stopped on a random day in September a full year later. Carmilla turned around to see what Laura was looking at and saw Johnson poking his head into the alleyway.

 

In the warp, Johnson took cautious steps forward, his eyes darting around like he was looking for something. Suddenly, he rounded the bend and jumped back.

“Oh my god!” he shouted.

“Ah!” said Laura, bringing her little blanket up to cover herself.

Johnson threw up his hands in a gesture of peace. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize anyone was here.”

“It’s okay,” said Laura, and she sounded so weak and defeated and just so, so _tired_. Johnson must have noticed because his expression softened.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” replied Laura, her defenses going up. She clearly wasn’t accustomed to random strangers talking to her and was understandably suspicious.

“I – I promise I won’t hurt you,” said Johnson, frowning. “I just want to help.”

“Please go,” said Laura. “I really appreciate it, but I am doing just fine on my own.”

Johnson looked like he wanted to argue, but he thought better of it. With a sad smile, he turned back around to leave the secluded space.

He didn’t return for several weeks.

 

…

 

It was late October and the weather was getting dangerously cold. Laura was huddled up in her thin blankets, too busy attempting to keep her blood circulating to get up and look for food.

She hadn’t eaten in a while.

She was so cold.

Why did she run away again?

…Right.

The nights were painful and the days slightly less, but she was starting to get skinny and weak and November was fast approaching.

Then he appeared again.

It was late at night and Laura wanted to tell him to go away, but he just shook his head and dropped something down in front of her.

In the morning she found out that it was a container of food. There were vegetables and a few pieces of meat and two rolls of bread. Laura held off on eating it for as long as possible, worried that Johnson had poisoned the food or something, but eventually her hunger won out.

It was gone by the end of two days and Laura was feeling better than she had been in a while.

Three days after that, she woke up to find a brand new, thick blanket laid on top of her.

 

…

 

“Why are you helping me?” Laura asked when she felt him creep into the alleyway for the sixth time, not opening her eyes to check.

“I feel bad,” said Johnson, putting a box of takeout on the ground in front of her. He crouched down to look at her, wringing his hands as he spoke. “I’m…homeless too. So I know what it’s like. And I also know that at least I have a job, as terrible as it is, so I can afford food, and, well. Nobody deserves to suffer alone out here.”

“Oh,” said Laura, blinking open her eyes, still slightly wary. “Well…thanks.”

Johnson smiled. “Happy to help. What’s your name?”

“Laura Hollis,” said Laura, snuggling closer into her fluffy blanket. “How about you?”

“Call me Johnson,” he replied.

“Okay.” Laura looked down at the ground, a little embarrassed.

“Hey,” said Johnson. “Head up, Hollis. You’re going to get through this.”

A tiny, bashful grin appeared on Laura’s face and she lifted her head to look at this kind man crouching in front of her. “Thank you. You’re really nice.”

Johnson grinned and reached out to pat Laura on the shoulder. “Don’t forget to look after yourself. I’ll come visit.”

And he left.

 

…

 

He did come and visit, every few days, always with something new to bring Laura, whether it be food or a new coat or a pillow or something to add to her little hideout. As the days passed Laura became accustomed to his presence, to his silly jokes and his optimistic spirit.

Sometimes she went out and helped him clean the streets around town, picking up trash and throwing it away and helping sweep up stores. He got a horribly meager pay for it, but money was still money, and they could just barely get by on it. It was tough, especially throughout December and January when the weather turned frigid.

Laura definitely wouldn't describe her life as easy, but she was happy, for the first time in a long while. Johnson was often by her side, and she felt like she could keep slogging forward with him in her life.

Around the beginning of February Johnson started talking about a place he found and an old man who had offered him a spot at his apartment complex. “It’s called Corvae,” Johnson told Laura one day, as they were sitting together atop Laura’s pile of blankets. “He says he’s always open to people who are struggling to find a home of their own. We don’t even have to pay. He just wants us to work for him, do a couple jobs every now and then.”

“That almost sounds fake,” Laura sighed.

“It isn’t, I promise you,” said Johnson. “I already moved in. Everyone there is so nice. They’re all from tough backgrounds like you and me. All he wants is for us to get groceries for the entire complex sometimes, or run a few delivery errands. It’s amazing, like having a hotel room all to yourself.”

“Wow,” said Laura. “I’m glad you have a place to live now.”

“Yeah,” said Johnson.

 

…

 

Two weeks of talking later, with Johnson chatting on about his new home with a sparkle in his eyes, Laura finally got the guts to ask the question she’d been wanting to ask since Johnson had brought up Corvae.

“Can I…Would Mr. Vordenberg let me in?”

“I’ve been trying to see if he will,” Johnson assured her immediately. “Not to get your hopes up or anything, but the prospects are looking good.” He grinned. “Imagine having a roof over your head again.”

“I can’t wait,” said Laura, smiling.

And when March 7th arrived, Johnson popped into Laura’s space with the biggest grin on his face. “Guess who just got approved,” he said. “We leave in two days. Say goodbye to your little nook, Hollis. We’re off to live like _royalty_.”

Laura laughed. “I’m not sure that really counts as royalty, but it’s close enough, right?”

“Damn right.”

Laura’s smile softened. “Thank you,” she said earnestly. “Really. For everything you’ve done for me.”

“Of course,” said Johnson. “Now sit tight. Next time I come back, you'd better be ready to head off to Corvae.”

 

Laura shut off the warp and everything in it blinked out of existence. Carmilla turned and saw her staring at the ground, unmoving, head bowed.

“I miss him,” she said, her voice cracking.

“Laura,” said Carmilla, and she wrapped her arms around Laura, and Laura hugged Carmilla back. Carmilla felt her head buried into her shoulder, her hands clenching at the back of Carmilla’s shirt. “Of course you do, that’s perfectly reasonable. It was obvious that he meant a lot to you.”

“Yeah,” said Laura, not breaking away from Carmilla’s embrace. “I think…I trusted him a lot faster than I should have. I couldn’t help it. I think he saw me almost as a daughter of sorts. And he was like my father. Always looking out for me, protecting me, making sure I had enough to eat.”

“He sounds like a great guy.”

“He was. You saw him.”

“Yeah,” said Carmilla. “…But…didn’t you have a father?”

“I miss Johnson,” said Laura again after a short pause, blatantly ignoring Carmilla’s question. She pulled back and gave Carmilla a watery smile. “Let’s head back now. I think we’re done here.”

“Okay,” said Carmilla. As she turned to leave the alleyway, Laura reached over and intertwined their fingers together.

Carmilla couldn’t really describe the feeling that swelled inside her when Laura brushed her thumb gently over the back of her hand. So instead she ignored it and began to walk.


End file.
